The Gold League

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 8

Juan Manuel Marquez (38) Mexico 54-6-1 (39)
Zab Judah (34) United States 42-7-0 (29)
Danny Garcia (24) United States 24-0-0 (15)
Nate Campbell (40) United States 36-9-1 (26)
Mike Alvarado (31) United States 33-0-0 (23)
James Kirkland (28) United States 31-1-0 (27)
Jose Miguel Cotto (35) Puerto Rico 33-3-1 (24)

Current WBO interim Junior Welterweight champion and four different weights champion Juan Manuel Marquez is the clear favourite to win the group and also to be one of the big animators of the tournament.
Former light welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah is one of the bigger enemies of Marquez on this very competitive group. Judah came of a big win against Vernon Paris.
Undefeated WBC and WBA champion Danny Garcia is on a beautiful moment, on his last forur fights he beat Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, Eric Morales and Amir Khan showing that he is one to take on account.
Veteran Nate Campbell will put his last efforts on this tournament he come of two consecutive wins and he has a lot of expierence on great fights.
Two promising american fighters will also try to pass to the second round, undefeated but untested Mike Alvarado and James Kirkland that has as a career highlight a TKO victory against Alfredo Angulo.
Finally former lightweigth champion (of fringe IBC) Jose Miguel Cotto doesn’t seem to have many chances to pass to the second round on this very strong group.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 9

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (35) United States 43-0-0 (26)
Joel Casamyor (40) Cuba 38-6-1 (22)
Juan Urango (31) Colombia 23-3-1 (18)
Demarcus Corley (38) United States 39-19-1 (23)
Zaubrek Baysangurov (27) Russia 27-1-0 (20)
Dimitry Salita (30) Ukraine 33-1-1 (18)
Cesar Cuenca (31) Argentina 42-0-0 (1)

The main star of all the gold league is on this group : WBA light middlewight and five division title holder Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd is the great candidate and he has to pass this group undefeated without any trouble.
Veteran former super featherweight and lightweight champion Cuban Joel Casamayor is another candidate to pass to the second round but Joel is far from his glory nights against Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo.
Former light welterweight Demarcus Corley seem to be on a second youth with his last two wins against Gabriel Bracero and Paul MacKloskey, but he has nineteen losses on his record so his performance is a real guess.
Current WBO and IBO light middleweight champion Russian Zaubrek Baysangurov seem to be a good fighter but a bit untested. He has a defeat against Cornelius Bundrage and wins against Marco Antonio Rubio and Michel Soro.
Both Dimitry Salita and Juan Urango come short on his big fights Salita a former IBF light welterweight champion was destroyed in one round against Amir Khan and Urango lost against Ricky Hatton, Andre Berto and Devon Alexander but he has a victory against Randall Bailey.
Finally Cesar Cuenca an undefeated argentine that has good boxing skills but nothing of power on his hands.
Behind Mayweather the things appear very even on this group.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 10

Adrien Broner (22) United States 23-0-0 (19)
Erik Morales (35) Mexico 52-8-0 (36)
Rafal Jackiewicz (35) Poland 42-10-1 (21)
Demetrius Andrade (24) United States 17-0-0 (12)
Kevin Mitchell (27) United States 33-1-0 (24)
Victor Hugo Castro (36) Argentina 31-7-1 (13)
Jessie Vargas (23) United States 19-0-0 (9)

Current WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner decided to make the great jump and will compete on the welterweight tournament. Broner that weighted 130 lbs for his last fight expects to debut on the tournament on around 143 to 145 lbs. If the extra-weight does’t affect him, Broner has the skills to win this group.
Former four division title holder and Mexican boxing legend Erik Morales seem to be one great enemy for Broner, at 35 Morales still is a dangerous puncher and a man that knows all the ring’s secrets.
The rest of the group are three unstested american prospects:undefeated Demetrius Andrade and Jessie Vargas and only once beaten Kevin Mitchell that has a victory against John Murray but was destroyed by Michel Katsidis
Finally two veterans complete the group: Poland Rafal Jackiewicz that has ten losses on his record but only two on his last 29 fights and against good rivals (Kell Brook and Dejan Zavec) and Argentine Victor Hugo Castro that is returning to the ring after sixteen months.
Broner and Morales are the clear favourites and all the remainder participants has the chance to be the other two qualified for the second round.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 11

Luis Collazo (31) United States 31-5-0 (16)
Timothy Bradley (28) United States 29-0-0 (12)
Souleymane M’Baye (37) France 39-4-1 (21)
Robert Guerrero (29) Mexico 29-1-1 (18)
Delvin Rodriguez (32) Dominican Rep. 26-6-3 (14)
Leonard Bundu (37) Italy 26-0-2 (8)
Fernando Angulo (31) Ecuador 24-9-0 (14)

Current WBO light welterweight and welterweight champion undefeated Timothy Bradley come of his biggest victory (robbery) against Manny Pacquiao and is the great attraction of this group and one of the main candidates to win the tournament.
His main enemy is former welterweight champion Luis Collazo that has passed his best days but is still good enough to give fight to everyone.
Coming of the lower weights former feather, super feather and lightweight champion Robert “the ghost “ Guerrero is the third one in discord on this group. Could Guerrero perform well on the 150 lbs? That is the question.
The rest of the group doesn’t show nothing interesting: Frenchman M’Baye that lost three of his last seven fights and not against top opposition, Dominican Delvin Rodriguez with six defeats on his record and southamerican Fernando Angulo with nine losses on his record.
Finally is undefeated italian Leonard Bundu that is totally untested. One of this four fighters will pass to the second round.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 12

Andre Berto (28) United States 28-1-0 (22)
Cory Spinks (34) United States 39-7-0 (11)
Jose Luis Castillo (38) Mexico 63-11-1 (54)
Mike Jones (29) United States 26-1-0 (19)
Cornelius Bundrage (39) United States 32-4-0 (19)
Diego Chaves (26) Argentina 21-0-0 (17)
Khabib Allakhverdiev (29) Russia 17-0-0 (8)

Two times welterweight champion Andre Berto is the clear favourite on this group.
Three veterans and three upcoming prospects complete the group.
Former lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo at 38 is spending the last cartridges. He is not the same who beat Diego Corrales and gave all sort of trouble to Floyd Mayweather but he is still good enough to pass to the second round.
Former welterweight and middleweight champion Cory Spinks is another to take an account he isn’t on his best moment but he is an “A” class fighter. On this group also is current IBF light middleweight champion and two times Spinks’ conqueror Cornelius Bundrage.
American Mike Jones come of being defeated by Randall Bailey on his first important fight.
Undefeated argentine Diego Chaves is ready for his first big test and finally IBO light welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev that has as a career highlight a victory against Nate Campbell.

[Thomas Hearns]

I will report the action Group by Group not chronologically, I think that it is more easy to follow the tournament on this way.

So I will start with the Group 1 of the Heavyweight tournament.

[Thomas Hearns]

Entries

Wladimir Klitschko
Audley Harrison
Kevin Johnson
Michael Grant
Francesco Pianeta
Tye Fields
Tony Grano

Round 1

ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA, United States, 2012-07-01

Francesco Pianeta vs Michael Grant
The fight started at an accelerated pace with both fighters trading bombs on an evenly fought round. On the second round the fight continued on the same way with Pianeta hurting Grant early on the round but with Grant connecting a big uppercut followed by a cross to put Pianetta on trouble, but the Italian connected a bit more than Grant.
On the third round the pace slowed a bit and Pianetta continued in control
On the following round Grant seemed to wake up and battered Pianetta all the stanza winning a 10-8 round. Grant continued in control on the following round and he seemed to turn the fight on his favor. But on the final round and with Grant attacking Pianeta connected a wild overhand right and dropped the american for a five count. After the Amercian got up little happened Pianeta was too tired and Grant too hurt to attemp something.
My scorecard was 57-56 for Pianeta, the official scorecards were 57-55 for Pianeta and 56-56 (x2). So finally the fight was declared a majority draw.

Tye Fields vs Kevin Johnson
Johnson started the fight controlling an actionless first round. On the second stanza Johnson was more confident an easily outboxed Fields making the difference on the last minute of the round.
But finally on the third round the fight changed dramatically when Fields connected a body shot followed by an uppercut to Johnson’s chin and put him to slip for the ten count.
So the final result was Fields by KO3.

Tony Grano vs Audley Harrison
On the main event of the night, little regarded Tony Grano surprised the audience with a very good performance against veteran Audley Harrison.
The pair traded the first four rounds, the first and the third for Harrison and the second and fourth ones for Grano. Each boxer won his rounds on a convincing way.
Harrison needed to put his best effort to edge the fifth round and when every one expected that he will used his experience to win the last round, Grano again surprised him winning it convincingly. My scorecard was 57-57. The official ones were 58-56 for Harrison, 58-56 for Grano and 57-57. So the fight was declared a draw.
Standings

T Fields 2
A.Harrison 1
T.Grano 1
M.Grant 1
F.Pianeta 1
K.Johnson 0
W.Klitschko –

Next fights -August 2012-

Michel Grant Vs Kevin Johnson
Francesco Pianeta Vs Audley Harrison
Wladimir Klitschko Vs Tony Grano

[Thomas Hearns]

Round 2

Stadion Mungersdorf, Cologne, Germany, 2012-08-02

Michael Grant 0-0-1 vs Kevin Johnson 0-1-0
Grant started the fight on fire battering Johnson all the way on the first round. His right uppercut was the lethal weapon but finally he dropped Johnson with a strong right hook. Johnson finished the round confused and with a cut on the inside of his left eyebrow.
On the second round Grant came decided to finish the fight and continued hurting Johnson whth his uppercut and finally he dropped Johnson again this time with a quick barrage of punches. Johnson got up and the bell saved him. On the third round Johnson managed to outbox Grant and the following round was a brutal affaire with fierce exchanges and with Grant edging it. Johnson’s cut looked very bad after this round.
On the fifth round Johnson manged to control the round from the outside protecting his cut but on the final stanza a three punches combo by Grant reopened the cut forcing the referee to stop the cut, so Grant won the fight by TKO6. At the time of the stoppage the scorecrads were 48-45 (x2) and 49-46 all for Grant.

Francesco Pianeta 0-0-1 vs Audley Harrison 0-0-1
Audley Harrison needed a good performance after his lackluster outing against little known Tony Grano. Pianeta came of a very good fight against Michael Grant.
Harrison edged an action-packed first round. The Italian ended the round with some swelling around his left eye. With more confidence Harrison easily won the following two rounds.
On the fourth round Pianeta came to life and clearly dominated the stanza. The fifth round was very even and with poor action, may be Harrison did a bit more than the italian. On the last round Pianeta knew that he have to do something big and pressured the action but Harrison blocked most of his attemps and finally outlanded him to win the round and the fight.
My scorecard was 59-55 for Harrison and the official ones were 59-55 (x2) and 58-57 all for the winner by unanimous decision Audley Harrison.

Wladimir Klitschko 0-0-0 vs Tony Grano 0-0-1
Finally people saw what he wanted: the debut of Wladimir Klitschko against Tony Grano that on his first outing gave a very tough fight to Audley Harrison.
Wladimir was too classy for Grano, ninety seconds on the fight a big cross by Wlad to Grano’s head put the amercian on the canvas for the first time for an eight count. Grano got up but less than thirty seconds later he was on the canvas again courtesy of a quick straight right by Wlad. Brave Grano got up again but Klitschko was merciless and punished him until the referee stopped the fight. The final result was Wladimir by TKO1.

Standings

A.Harrison 3
M.Grant 3
W.Klitschko 2
T.Fields 2
F. Pianeta 1
T.Grano 1
K.Johnson 0

Next Fights –September 2012-

K.Johnson Vs A. Harrison
F. Pianeta Vs T.Grano
W. Klitschko Vs T. Fields

[Thomas Hearns]

Round 3

Sports Palace, Rome, Italy, 2012-09-01

Kevin Johnson 0-0-2 vs Audley Harrison 1-1-0
Audley Harrison started the fight in total control easily dominating Johnson on the first three rounds of the fight. On the third stanza he almost dropped Johnoson with a tremndous left to the chin.
On the fourth round with Harrison attacking Johnson connected a big uppercut on counter and dropped a surpriesed Harrison. The englishman got up at six but Johnson didn’t connect any more power punches until the end of the round.
On the fifth round Harrison was totally recovered and won a one-sided round. Harrison continued in control on the last stanza and with a perfect cross he sent Johnson to the canvas. Johnson finished the fight with his left eye cut and with his face swelled being the image of the defeat. My scorecard was 58-54 for Harrison and the official scorecards were 58-54 (x2) and 57-55 for the winner by unanimous decision Audley Harrison.
Francesco Pianeta 0-1-1 vs Tony Grano 0-1-1
Both fighters were winless on the tournament so both started the fight trying to score their first win to mantain the dream of passing to the second round.
Pianeta looked very solid on the first round clearly outlanded Grano and he mantained his momentum winnig the second stanza too.
On the third round Grano reacted an he also hurt the Italian with a solid cross near the end of the round. Grano was still in control on the following round to even the fight.
Pianeta regained the control winning the fifth round on a great form but finally Grano won the last stanza to even the fight again. My scorecard was 57-57 and the official scorecards were 58-56 for Grano and 57-57 (x2) so the fight was declared a majority draw.

Wladimir Klitschko 1-0-0 (1) vs Tye Fields 1-0-0 (1)
Both fighters had a win in the tournament and both won by KO so it was expected to be a great fight. Wladimir started the fight dropping Fields with a combination of blows to the body and the head only thirty seconds into the fight. Fields got up quickly and Wlad tried (and failed) to finish the fight on this stanza.
On the second round Fields came more aggressive and connected some good blows but attemping to connect a swinging right to Wlad’s head Fyelds left the space for a terrible body shot by the Ukranian that put Fields on the canvas for the ten count.
The official result was Wladimir by KO2.

Standings

A.Harrison 5
W.Klitschko 4
M.Grant 3
T. Fields 2
F.Pianeta 2
T.Grano 2
K.Johnson 0

Next Fights –October 2012-

K.Johnson-T.Grano
M.Grant-T.Fields
W.Klitschko-F. Pianeta

[Thomas Hearns]

Round 4

Aladdin Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV, United States, 2012-10-02

Kevin Johnson 0-0-3 vs Tony Grano 0-1-2
Kevin Johnson needed a victory after three consecutive defeats, so he started the fight decided to do it, winning the first two rounds convincigly. Grano seemed to react on the third round but Johnson regained the control on the following round. But when it seemed that a victory for Johnson was unavoidable Grano reacted on an spectacular form winning the last two rounds to even the fight. My scorecard was 57-57 and the official ones were 58-56 for Grano and 57-57(x2) so the fight was declared a majority draw.


Michael Grant 1-0-1 vs Tye Fields 1-1-0 (1)
Two hard-hitters faced on this fight between two candidates to pass to the second round.
Fields started the fight clearly outworking and outlanding Grant on the first round. In the second round Fields came like a storm hurting Grant two separated times one with a one-two combination the other with an uppercut.
Grant came to life on the third round and with a great combination he dropped Fields for a seven count. After Fields got up Grant threw all he had and he almost dropped Fields again with a strong left near the end of the round.
Grant continued dominating the fight on the following round but then he seemed to run out of fuel allowing Fields to regain the control of the fight on the last two rounds.
The last stanza was a very violent affaire with both fighters landing power right hooks but with Fields clearly outworking Grant. My scorecard and all the official scorecards were the same: 57-56 for the winner by unanimous decision Tye Fields.
Grant had a strange fight looking asleep on the first two rounds, oustanding on the following two and tired on the last two stanzas.

Wladimir Klitschko 2-0-0 (2) vs Francesco Pianeta 0-1-2
Francesco Pianeta was still winless on the torunament and he faced the big star of this group Wladimir Klitschko.
The Italian boxed on an outstanding form on the first two rounds making Wladimir looked ordinary. Klitschko finished the second round with a little swelling under his right eye.
But early on the third round Pianeta failed with a left jab and Klitschko countered with a quick barrage of punches that put Pianeta to sleep for the ten count. The final result was Wladimir by KO3. Pianeta was leading on two scorecards by 20-18 with the other was 19-19.

Standings

W.Klitschko 6
A.Harrison 5
T.Fields 4
M.Grant 3
T.Grano 3
F.Pianeta 2
K.Johnson 1

Next Fights –November 2012-

K.Johnson-F. Pianeta
A.Harrison-T. Fields
W.Klitschko-M.Grant

[Thomas Hearns]

Round 5

Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2012-11-01

Kevin Johnson 0-3-1 vs Francesco Pianeta 0-2-2
Both fighters failed to win on the tournament, Pianeta still had some chances of qulifying for the second round entering on this fight.
Pianeta edged an actionless first round but then Johnson took the control of the fight for the following three rounds, Pianeta attemped a reaction on the fifth round edging it but finally Johnson won the last stanza to secure his win. My scorecard was 58-56 for Johnson and the official scorecards were 58-56 59-55 and 58-57 all for the winner by unanmous decision Kevin Johnson.

Audley Harrison 2-0-1 vs Tye Fields 2-1-0 (1)
The first two rounds of the fight were rather competitive, with Harrison winning both by a very slim margin. On the third round Harrison connected a wicked combination to Field’s head and dropped him. After getting up Fields covered up on good form and finished the round connecting some blows of his own. The fourth round had back and forth action Fields tried to pressure but Harrison connected more on counterpunch to win the round. The last two rounds were clearly for Harrison that made his best fight of the tournament. My scorecard was 60-53 for Harrison and the official ones were 60-53 (x2) and 59-54 for the winner by unanimous decision Audley Harrison.

Wladimir Klitschko 3-0-0 (3) vs Michael Grant 1-1-1 (1)
Thirty seconds into the fight Wladimir Klitschko connected a body shot followed by a big cross to the head and dropped Michael Grant. The American giant barely beat the count getting up at nine. Klitschko tried to finish the fight and made Grant stumble backwards with another great combination but Michael survived.
On the second round the pair went punch per punch with Wladimir clearly outlaned Grant but with the amercian connecting some good blows of his own. Grant finished the round with some swelling under his right eye.
On the third round and with Wladimir dominating the action Grant connected a great right cross and followed it with a wild overhand right that put the ukranian on the floor. Wlad got up at five and the bell saved him of further punishment.
On the fourth round Klitschko was totally recovered and he dropped Grant again with a shot under his ribcage. After Grant got up Wladimir dropped him again with a with a similar shot. Brave Grant got up again but into hard legs, he had no movemnet and Klitschko punished him until the final of the round. On the fifth round a totally confident Klitschko went for the definition and dropped Grant again this time with a sweet right uppercut but Grant got up again with the determination of finishing the fight on his feet. Wladimir dominated the last round that had a slow place compared with the others.
My scorecard the same as the official ones were 58-51 for the winner by unanimous decision Wladimir Klitschko.

Standings
W. Klitschko 8
A. Harrision 7
T. Fields 4
M.Grant 3
K. Johnson 3
T. Grano 3
F. Pianeta 2

Next Fights –December 2012-

T.Grano-T.Fields
A.Harrison-M.Grant
W.Klitschko-K. Johnson

[Thomas Hearns]

Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 2012-12-02

Round 6

Tony Grano 0-1-3 vs Tye Fields 2-2-0 (1)
Displaying a very good performance Tye Fields destroyed Tony Grano on three rounds and he took a big step to be on the second round of this tournament.
Fields easy dominated the first round wth his aggressive style, on the second round Grano did it better but Fields still won the round.
On the third round Fields showed all his power and hurt Grano two times with his right uppercuts and finally dropped him with a great right cross. Grano got up but on bad shape and the referee not allowed him to continue fighting so the official result was Fields by TKO3.

Audley Harrison 3-0-1 vs Michael Grant 1-2-1 (1)
After Fields victory on the first fight of the night Michael Grant needed to win the fight to maintain his hopes of being on the second round. On the other hand with a win or a draw Harrison would be qualified for the second round.
The fight started horrible for Grant with Harrison controlling the first round and also dropping him with a great body shot seconds before the bell rang.
The second round had back and forth action, Grant connected the biggest punch of the round a crushing cross that hurt Harrison but the englishman connected more punches than the American.
On the third round Grant launched a furious attack and totally dominated Harrison that not landed a single clean punch. On the fourth round Harrison regained the control and easily won the stanza.
On the fifth round Michel Grant connected a clean right cross and put Harrison on the canvas. Audley got up at five and then Grant threw everytihng he had shaking Harrison a pair of times but he couldn’t finish the fight. The last round was evenly fought and both fighters looked very tired. My scorecard was 57-56 for Harrison but the official scorecards were 57-56 for Harrison and 57-55 (x2) for Michel Grant so the american was the winner by split decision and still deserves a chance to pass to the second round.
Wladimir Klitschko 4-0-0 (3) vs Kevin Johnson 1-3-1
Ninety seconds into the fight Wladimir Klitschko connected a big right cross followed by a hook to the head and dropped Kevin Johnson. The American got up at seven a survived the rest of the round without more trouble. The second round had very poor action, Klitschko connected a big hook that hurt Johnson but then he was too passive allowing Johnson to edge the round with nothing. The following round was an even one Johnson seem to be more comfortable on the fight.
With little Klitschko won the fourth round, a combination first to the body and then to the head by the Ukranian was the highlight of the round. The fight was very poor a this stage.
On the fifth round Klitschko decided to accelerate the pace and won a onesided round clearly outlanded Johnson.
On the last round a strong one-two combination by Wladimir dropped Johnson for the second time on the fight. Johnson got up at nine but this time Klitschko was merciless and punished Johnson until the referee stopped the fight. So the final result was Klitschko by TKO6. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-46 (x2) and 50-47 for Wladimir.
With this victory Klitschko secued for himself the first position on this group.

Standings

W. Klitschko 10
A. Harrison 7
T.Fields 6
M.Grant 5
K.Johnson 3
T.Grano 3
F.Pianeta 2

Next fights –January 2013-

T.Grano Vs M.Grant
W.Klitschko Vs A.Harrison
T.Fields Vs F.Pianeta

[Thomas Hearns]

With one round remainding this are the situation of the group:

1)Wladimir Klitschko is yet the winner of the group.

2)Francesco Pianeta, Tony Grano and Kevin Johnson are out of the fight for one of the three spots on the second round.

3)Audley Harrison, Tye Fields and Michael Grant are the three who will disput the two remainder places on the second round.

Michael Grant will fight against Tony Grano and he has to win his fight to have chances of qualifying for the second round. If Grant won't win Harrison and Fields are the two qualified.

In case of a victory of Grant, Audley Harrison needs a draw or a victory against Wlad Klitschko to secure his pass to the second round. If he lose and grant win he will need a defeat of Tye Fields to qualified.

Tye Fields will fight Francesco Pianeta, with a victory or a draw he is on the second round. If he lose the fight and Grant win his bout Fields is out of the tournament.

[Thomas Hearns]

Volkswagenhalle, Germany, 2013-01-02

Round 7

Tony Grano 0-2-3 vs Michael Grant 2-2-1 (1)
Michael Grant started the fight with his usual aggressive style knowing that he needed a victory. Grant hurt Grano with a body shot followed by an uppercut to the chin on the first round. On the second stanza Grant dropped Grano with a quick barrage of punches. Grano barely beat the count getting up at nine. Grant looked for the definition but failed to do it.
The third round was an awful actionless one but Grant edged it for being the aggressor.
On the fourth round Grano seemed to react outlanded a tired Grant, the following stanza was evenly fought but Grant won it by a narrow margin. The vibrant pace of the first two rounds was only a far memory.
On the last round Grant was very conservative sure of his victory and Grano attemped to attack but showed all his limitations. My scorecard was 58-55 for Michael Grant and the official ones were 58-56 58-55 and 57-56 all for the winner by unanimous decision Michael Grant. With this victory Grant still has chances to pass to the second round.


Wladimir Klitschko 5-0-0 (4) vs Audley Harrison 3-1-1
On the previous it was the fight between the two candidates to win this group , Wladimir come to fight relaxed with his classification secured but Harrison still needed a good result.
On the first round an after ninety seconds of no-action Wladimir decided to attack and with a one-two combination followed by a jab and a smashing right cross put Harrison on trouble.
Harrison answered on the second round dominating the stanza against a passive Klitschko, near the end of the stanza Harrison landed a wicked combination to the head and dropped the ukranian. Klitschko got up quickly and the bell rang.
The third round had back and forth action but Kltschko clearly regained the control of the fight.
On the fourth round Wladimir dropped Harrison with a perfect combination and after the englishman got up Klitschko punished him unitl the round came to its end.
On the fifth round Harrison put his last effort and landed some good blows but Klitschko caught him with a great right cross on counterpunch and dropped him for the second time on the fight. After the englishman got up again Wlad battered him unitl the bell rang.
Twenty five seconds into the last round Klitschko connected a big hook and dropped Harrison again, the englishman regained his feet again and attemped to end the fight on his feet but this time Wladimir connected punch after punch until the referee stopped the fight only seven seconds before the final bell. The official result was Klitschko by TKO6.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 48-44 (x3) for Wladimir.
With this result Michael Grant is on the second stage of the tournament and if Fields win his fight Harrison is out.

Tye Fields 3-2-0 (2) vs Francesco Pianeta 0-3-2
With the previous results Fields knew that a victory give him the second palce on the group so he came aggressive winning the first round without trouble and also hurting Pianeta with a sweet uppercut.
But on the second round the fight changed dramatically when Pianeta connected a great one-two combination and dropped Fields for a six count. After Tye got up Pianeta dominated the rest of the round. On the following round Fields looked still confused and Pianeta continued in control. The fourth round had a lot of back and forth action with Pianeta controlling the first part then Fields rallying and finally Pianeta winning the round with a great uppercut that almost dropped Fields again near the end of the round.
On the fifth round the pace slowed a bit but Pianeta still landed more punches than Fields.
A desesperate Fields attemped to force the action on the last round and he won the stanza but it wasn’t enough for him. My scorecard was 58-55 for Pianeta. The official scorecards were 58-55 (x2) and 59-55 all for the winner by unanimous decision Francesco Pianeta.
With this result Fields is out of the tournament.

Final standings

1 W. Klitschko 12 –Record 6-0-0 (5)-
2 M.Grant 7 –Record 3-2-1 (1)-
3 A.Harrison 7 –Record 3-2-1-
4 T.Fields 6 –Record 3-3-0 (2)-
5 F.Pianeta 4 –Record 1-3-2-
6 K. Johnson 3 –Record 1-4-1-
7 T.Grano 3 -Record -0-3-3-

Klitschko, Grant and Harrison pass to the second stage of the tournament

*On the fight between them Grant defeated Harrison for that Grant is second and Harrison third on the fnal standings.

[Thomas Hearns]

As it was expected Wladimir Kitschko passed this group undefeated winning five of his six fights inside the distance and in the only fight that he went to the scorecards he dropped Michael Grant six times.
The only black point on his campaign was that he visited the canvas two times: one against Harrison the other against Grant.

Veteran Michael Grant showed that at 38 he still can punch hard, on some moments he showed the aggressiveness of his good times but sometimes he looked to pasive. He was benefited by two polemics judges rules against Harrison (WSD6) and Pianeta (Mdraw6).

After an awful start drawing with Tony Grano, Audley Harrison recovered winning three consecutive fights, then he was robbed against Grant and finally he lost against Kiltschko. At 40 he showed that he is still competive.

Kevin Johnson was the great deception of the group, Tye Fields always give show and he was very near of qualifying. Pianeta showed some good moments outboxing Klitschko for two rounds and defeating Fields, perhaps he win his fight against Grant. Tony Grano superated all the expectations drawing three fights when everyone expected him to lose his six bouts.


COMING UP HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT GROUP 2

[Thomas Hearns]

Entries

Antonio Tarver
Denis Lebedev
Frans Botha
Pawel Kolodziej
Taras Bidenko
Manuel Charr
Johann Duhaupas

Motor City Arena, Detroit, MI, United States, 2012-07-03

Round 1

Taras Bidenko vs Pawel Kolodziej
This fight faces two candidates to pass to the second round. From the start Bidenko started in control of the action doing the neccesary to win the first two stanzas without trouble.
On the third round we had a lot of action with Bidenko deepened his dominance. The fourth round was evenly fought but Bidenko edged it.
The fifth round was one sided for Bidenko after this round Kolodziej face showed the traces of the fight. The last round had little action until the last thirty seconds in which Bidenko connected a sweet uppercut that seemed to hurt the Poland but Kolodziej answered with a great straight right that shook Bidenko. It was the best punch of the Poland on the whole fight but it was to late. My scorecard was 60-54 for Bidenko. The official ones were 60-54 and 59-55 (x2) all fo the winner by unanimous decision Taras Bidenko.

Manuel Charr vs Frans Botha
The main question of this fight was what could Frans Botha do in the ring at 44? And the southafrican “White buffalo” gave an overwhelming answer for his detractors.
The first round was rather competitive with Botha winning it by a narrow margin.
Early on the second round Botha hurt Charr with a violent tleft and then he followed uo with an uppercut and a big body shot. Charr was visible hurt and never recover. Another body shot followed by an uppercut to the chin a left hook and a perfect right cross to the head put Charr to sleep for the ten count. The final result was Botha by KO2.

Johann Duhaupas vs Dennis Lebedev
On this fight one of the candidates to win the group Dennis Lebedev faced perhaps the worse fighter of the group frenchman Johann Duahaupas.
The first round was even and with poor action then Lebedev edged the second round and seemed to take control of the fight on the third one. But the fourth round was rather competitive again. At this point Lebedev was winning the fight but his performance was very far than it was expected.
Finally on the fifth round Lebedev accelerated the pace hurting Duhaupas a pair of times and dominating the round on a one sided form.
On the sixth round the Russian went for the definiton and it came when he landed a great right uppercut to Duhaupas’ chin and dropped him for the ten count.
The final result was Lebedev by KO6 and at the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-46 and 49-47 (x2) for the Russian.

Standings

F.Botha 2
D. Lebedev 2
T.Bidenko 2
P. Kolodziej 0
J. Duhaupas 0
M.Charr 0
A.Tarver –

Next fights –August 2012-

P.Kolodziej Vs F.Botha
T.Bidenko Vs D.Lebedev
A.Tarver Vs J.Duhaupas

[Thomas Hearns]

Durban City Hall, Durban, South Africa, 2012-08-04

Round 2

Pawel Kolodziej 0-1-0 vs Frans Botha 1-0-0 (1)
For the first two rounds of the fight Frans Botha looked as an old man, the Poland Kolodziej clearly outspeeding him winning both stanzas on a convincing way.
On the third round Botha landed a big hook and followed it with a straight right sending Kolodziej to the canvas. The Poland got up and survived the round absorbing a great uppercut by Botha in the way. The fourth round was very even but Botha won it on the last seconds when he connected a great uppercut that froze the Poland.
Botha won the fifth round with authority and he also won and actionless last round to secure his victory. My scorecard was 58-55 for Botha and the official ones were 58-55 (x2) for Botha and misteriously 57-56 for Kolodziej so Botha was the winner by split decision.

Taras Bidenko 1-0-0 vs Dennis Lebedev 1-0-0 (1)
Both fighters came of wins, Bidenko of looking quiet good against Kolodziej and Lebedev of beating Johann Duhaupas without great effort.
This time Lebedev starting to fight from the first round hurting Bidenko with a straight right and with a solid hook.
On the second round Lebedev dropped Bidenko with another great hook and after he got up Lebedev threw all that he had attemping to finish the fight but Bidenko survived the storm.
The third round was again one-sided for Lebedev that hurt Bidenko again this time with a right cross to the chin.
On the fourth round Lebeded slowed the pace and for the first time on the fight Bidenko was in control and also put Lebedev on trouble with a violent left to the head.
On the fifth round Lebedev regained the control of the fight and won the stanza on a convincing way. On the final round Lebedev gave a real beating to Bidenko using his straight rights and uppercuts as lethal weapons unitl the referee stopped the uneven fight. The final result was Denis Lebedev by TKO6. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-45 (x3) for Lebedev.

Antonio Tarver 0-0-0 vs Johann Duhaupas 0-1-0
Weighing only 197 lbs , Antonio Tarver faced his first fight as a Heavyweight against lackluster Johann Duhaupas.
After an even first round, Tarver started to dominate the fight on an actionless second round.
On the third round Tarver was more active an he connected a great uppercut his first power blow on the fight that stopped the frenchman cold. Then with Duhaupas trying to cover up Tarver connected a big body shot and dropped him for the ten count. Final result Tarver by KO3.

Standings

D.Lebedev 4
F. Botha 4
A. Tarver 2
T. Bidenko 2
M.Charr 0
P.Kolodziej 0
J.Duhaupas 0

Next Fights –September 2012-

T.Bidenko Vs J.Duhaupas
F.Botha Vs D.Lebedev
A.Tarver vs M.Charr

[Thomas Hearns]

Stoczniowiec Olivia Arena, Poland, 2012-09-04

Round 3

Taras Bidenko 1-1-0 vs Johann Duhaupas 0-2-0
After first two even rounds, Taras Bidenko starting to take control of the fight on the third round, the fourth round was competitive but Bidenko was the more active of the pair. Finally Bidenko easily won the last two rounds to secure an easy win. The fight didn’t have great moments, Bidenko simply outboxed Duhaupas from the third round until the end of the fight. My scorecard was 60-56 for Bidenko and the offical ones were 60-56 (x2) and 59-57 for the winner by unanimous decision Taras Bidenko.

Frans Botha 2-0-0 (1) vs Dennis Lebedev 2-0-0 (2)
This fight faced the two boxers that were leading the standings table of the group.
Lebedev strated the fight winning the first round clearly but Botha answered winning a violent second round in which he hurt the Russian with a right uppercut but Lebedev answered putting Botha on trouble with a right hook and a straight right.
But early on the third round a masive hook by Lebedev put Botha on the canvas. The southafrican barely beat the count getting up at nine. After Botha got up Lebedev attemped to finish the fight but he only could land a violent hook that made Botha stumble but the southafrican survived the round.
The fourth round had great action but with Lebedev clearly dominating the fight hurting Botha with his straight rights and with some body work.
Starting the fifth round Lebedev seemed to have the fight dominated but Botha connected a violent cross and dropped the Russian for a seven count. After Lebedev got up Botha attacked and landed a great right uppercut to Lebedev chin and dropped the Russian again. Lebedev got up again and survived the remainder twenty seconds of the round.
On the last round both fighters put his last effort but Lebedev won it outlanding a tired Frans Botha. My scorecard the same as the three judges ones was 56-55 for the winner by unanimous decision Denis Lebedev.

Antonio Tarver 1-0-0 (1) vs Manuel Charr 0-1-0
Antonio Tarver gave a real lesson of boxing to Manuel Charr winning all the rounds of the fight to score lopsided unanimous decision win.
Tarver easily dominated the first two minutes of the first round, then Charr attemped to exchange blows with him and finished the round with a huge mouse under his right eye.
On the second round Tarver accelerated the pace and gave a real beating to Charr. On the third round Tarver took a breath and he only managed to outbox Charr.
On the fourth round Tarver again battered Charr using his crosses and hooks. Tarver mantained his dominance on the following round.
On the last round with the fight in his pocket Tarver simply outboxed Charr form the distance.
My scorecard and the three official ones were 60-54 for the winner by unanimous decision Antonio Tarver.

Standings

D.Lebedev 6
A.Tarver 4
F.Botha 4
T.Bidenko 4
M.Charr 0
P. Kolodziej 0
J.Duhaupas 0

Next Fights –October 2012-

Frans Botha Vs Johann Duhaupas
P.Kolodziej Vs M.Charr
A.Tarver Vs T.Bidenko

[Thomas Hearns]

Round 4

Pawel Kolodziej 0-2-0 vs Manuel Charr 0-2-0
Two winless boxers faced on this fight, Kolodziej knew that he still had chances of passing to the second round if he won the fight.
The pair split the first two rounds, the first one for the Poland the second for Charr.
On the third round with Charr attacking Kolodziej landed a great counterpunch and dropped Manuel for a seven count. Charr got up and survived the round but from this moment Kolodziej took the control of the fight for good.
The Poland easily dominated the following two rounds against a very passive Charr. Finally Kolodziej dropped Charr again on the last round with a straight right. Charr got up and managed to finish the fight on his feet. My scorecard was 59-53 for Kolodziej the official scorecards were all the same 59-53 for the winner by unanimous decision Pawel Kolodziej.

Frans Botha 2-1-0 (1) vs Johann Duhaupas 0-3-0
Duhaupas won the first round outworking Botha but it was all that he had. After that Botha took the total control of the fight. On the following two rounds Botha gave a real beating to the Frenchman hurting him several times. Early on the third round Duhaupas cut Botha on his lip with a jab, but the blood made the southafrican get angry and he continued punishing the frenchman winning another one-sided round.
On the fifth round Duhaupas attemped to stay more active but Botha clearly outlanded him and almost dropped him with a violent hook. Botha also won an actionless last round. My scorecard was 59-55 for Botha , the official scorecards were 59-55 (x2) and 58-56 for the winner by unanimous decision Frans Botha.


Antonio Tarver 2-0-0 (1) vs Taras Bidenko 2-1-0
Third fight for Antonio Tarver that performed very well on the other two ones. Bidenko performed well with low opposition but he looked bad on his fight against Lebedev.
Tarver won the first round on a one-sided form Bidenko failed to land a single punch on this round. On the following two round Bidenko did it better but Tarver still won both stanzas.
The fourth round didn’t have great action until Tarver connected an uppercut to Bidenko’s chin and dropped him near the end of the round. Bidenko got up and the bell saved him.
Tarver mantained his dominance on an acitonless fifth round and finally with the fight on his pocket he took a round off on the last one allowing Bidenko to win the stanza. My scorecard was 59-54 for Tarver and the official scorecards were 59-54 (x2) and 60-53 for the winner by unanimous decision Antonio Tarver.

Standings

D.Lebedev 6
A.Tarver 6
F.Botha 6
T.Bidenko 4
P.Kolodziej 2
M.Charr 0
J.Duhaupas 0

Next Fights –November 2012-

D. Lebedev Vs M. Charr
F. Botha Vs T.Bidenko
D.Lebedev Vs M.Charr

[Thomas Hearns]

Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia, 2012-11-04

Round 5

Dennis Lebedev 3-0-0 (2) vs Manuel Charr 0-3-0
Dennis Lebedev was doing a great tournament at that moment on the opposite site Manuel Charr was one of the great deceptions of this group.
Manuel Charr won the first round for being the more active man, but on the second round Lebedev seemed to put the things in their site winning it convincingly.
The third round was an even one with very, very poor action.
Lebedev had his best round of the fight on the fourth one, totally dominating it and also putting Charr on trouble with a violent straight right.
The fifth round was a competitive affaire but Charr finally edged it to put the result in suspense.
On the last round everyone expected a great attack by Lebedev but it didn’t happen the Russian was totally passive allowing Charr to win the stanza with a few good blows on the last minute of the round. My scorecard was 58-57 for Charr. The official scorecards were 58-56 and 58-57 for Charr and 57-57. So Manuel Charr was the winner by majority decision on a great upset.

Frans Botha 3-1-0 (1) vs Taras Bidenko 2-2-0
A key fight to determine the qualifiers for the second round, with a win Frans Botha almost secured his pass to the second round, on the other hand Bidenko needed a win to remain alive.
Bidenko started the fight very active and clearly outboxed the southafrican on the first round.
On the second round a confident Bidenko deepened his dominance, his handspeed was a big problem for Botha.
But on the third round a violent right cross by Botha dropped Bidenko for a seven count. Bidenko got up and managed to stay out of trouble for the rest of the round.
With little Botha edged an actionless fourth round, Bidenko seem to be too cautious after the knockdown.
Botha started the fifth round better but Bidenko reacted on the second half to finally win the round convincingly. Bidenko didn’t attemp to land power shots but he landed a lot of blows using his speed.
The last round was an even one with Bidenko dominating the first half and Botha rallying on the second part. My scorecard was 57-57. The offical scorecards were 57-56 (x3) for the winner by unanimous decision Taras Bidenko.

Antonio Tarver 3-0-0 (1) vs Pawel Kolodziej 1-2-0
After Lebedev’s defeat with a win on this fight Antonio Tarver will make a great step forward to be the winner of this group. On the other hand Kolodziej needed a win to maintain his chances of classification.
The first round had a lot of back and forth action with the Poland winning the stanza by a slim margin.
But the hopes of seeing an even fight finished on the second round when Tarver took the total control of the fight winning the stanza on a one-sided form. Kolodziej didn’t land any clean punches on this round.
Early on the third round Tarver connected a big hook and cut Kolodziej under his left eye. After that Tarver used his jab to worsen the cut until the referee decided to stop the fight.
So Antonio Tarver was the winner by TKO3.

Standings

A.Tarver 8
D.Lebedev 6
T.Bidenko 6
F.Botha 6
P.Kolodziej 2
M.Charr 2
J.Duhaupas 0

Next Fights –December 2012-

J.Duhaupas Vs M.Charr
D.Lebedev Vs P. Kolodziej
A.Tarver Vs F.Botha