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Friday, March 20, 2020

Kaminsky Fight Postponed

Middleweight prospect David Kaminsky was scheduled to fight on April 11 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard of Jerwin Ancajas-Jonathan Rodriguez. That card has been postponed indefinitely because of the global pandemic Coronavirus-2019.

Currently, there have been over 17,000 cases of the virus in the United States with that number rising rapidly today. There have been over 200 deaths due to the disease in the country. In Nevada, there have been 96 identified cases and one death thus far.

The number of reported cases are supposed to rise exponentially as testing becomes more readily available. The U.S. is behind other countries in terms of testing for the virus. Because the virus spreads so easily, there likely won't be any boxing matches in the foreseeable future.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Chilemba's Fight with Chudinov Postponed Indefinitely

Isaac Chilemba was scheduled to fight Fedor Chudinov this Saturday in Russia, but that fight has been postponed indefinitely. Chilemba had issues finding a flight to get over Russia because of coronavirus-2019. The fight was canceled however, because Russia banned foreign nationals from entering the country and canceled all major events including sporting ones.

Chilemba last fought in December, a unanimous decision over Alecander Kubich in Greece. The Golden Boy is 26-7-2 with 10 KOs.

Monday, March 16, 2020

Chilemba's Fight with Chudinov in Doubt

Isaac Chilemba's scheduled bout with Fedor Chudinov this Saturday in Russia is in doubt at the moment because Chilemba has been unable to get a flight from his base in South Africa to the location of the fight in Vladikavkaz, according to Mphatso Malidadi of The Times.

The global pandemic coronoavirus-2019 has forced airlines around the world to cancel numerous flights. Chilemba was originally scheduled to fly out Saturday night for the bout with Chudinov, but if he can't catch a flight within the next day or so, the fight will be cancelled. "I cannot fly in two or three days before the fight," Chilemba told Malidadi. "I won’t have time to recover from [an] 18 hours[-]plus flight and fight. I need more than four days to get rid of jet lag for the body to perform."

There are currently 62 known cases of coronavirus in South Africa. Yesterday the president Cyril Ramaphosa announced travel restrictions, a ban on large gatherings, and the closure of schools in the country starting on Wednesday in an effort to slow the progress of the disease which will infect exponentially more people if action is not taken.

The JBB will provide an update for the Chilemba fight as information becomes available.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Chilemba to Face Chudinov

Isaac Chilemba is scheduled to face Fedor Chudinov in a crossroads fight on Saturday, March 21 at Manezh in the southern town of Vladikavkaz, Russia near the Georgian border. While professional sports in the United States has been shutdown due to the global pandemic coronavirus-2019, the same measures have not been taken in Russia. Officially Russia has 63 reported cases although there are concerns that Russian officials are under-reporting the number of patients. The number is expected to increase exponentially regardless, which puts the fight in doubt at this moment.

Chilemba (26-7-2, 10 KOs) is just 2-5 in his last seven fights, but he has faced almost all of the best light heavyweights of the post-Ward pre-Canelo era during that span. Chilemba lost a disputed decision to Eleider Alvarez in 2015. He next fought tough against Sergey Kovalev, who was a pound-for-pound top ten fighter at the time. Chilemba then lost to future lineal light heavyweight champion Olexandr Gvozdyk after breaking his hand.

Chilemba came back a year and four months later to defeat Blake Caparello before losing to the talented Dmitry Bivol by decision. Last year, Chilemba lost a rematch against contender Maksim Vlasov and then beat journeyman cruiserweight Alexander Kubich; both fights went to the cards.

While Chilemba is a masterful defensive boxer, Chudinov (22-2, 15 KOs) is a pressure fighter and volume puncher who looks to get inside and hit whatever he can in the hopes of wearing down the opponent. In May of 2015, the Russian warrior beat Felix Sturm by split decision in Germany to win a world title strap. After one defense, Chudinov lost the rematch to Sturm by majority decision in what many observers describe as a robbery.

After a fifteen-month layoff, Chudinov returned to face George Groves in 2017 for a vacant world title belt. Chudinov's pressure seemed to break down Groves through the first five rounds of the contest. In the sixth, Groves landed some hard overhand rights as Chudinov stormed towards him. Chudinov was wobbled and eventually fell. He beat the count, but referee Steve Gray waved off the fight despite the protests of Chudinov.

The Russian super middleweight has won eight straight fights since the Groves loss. His best win in that span was against Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in his last fight in December. Neither man was able to land too many clean shots, but Chudinov controlled center ring as N'Dam moved along the perimeter. Chudinov swept two of the judges' cards.

Chudinov, who is listed as 5'9", doesn't jab on his way to the inside. Except against Groves, he's shown a good chin and tests it as he makes his way in. Once inside, Chudinov throws wide shots around the opponent's guard.

Two strategies for neutralizing Chudinov's relentless pressure is for a taller fighter to use their jab at range or slip and counter. Ezequiel Maderna, who doesn't possess the fastest hands, managed to keep Chudinov at bay with his long jab for the first few rounds of their bout last July. Eventually, Chudinov landed a big right uppercut that forced Maderna down and out in the tenth round. Nadjib Mohammedi started slipping Chudinov's pressure in the middle rounds of their fight in 2018, but he didn't counter enough and lost a split decision.

Chilemba, who is four and half inches taller than Chudinov but only has a one-inch reach advantage, typically potshots and jabs at distance though he will get drawn into a fire-fight on occasion. The Malawian man tends to be more of a perfectionist with his punches looking for the eye-catching blow, and thus throws at a lower rate than Chudinov. Chudinov is there to be hit when he comes in, but once inside Chilemba will likely need to hold or escape. The Russian is more than just a crude pressure fighter, however. He can box; he just rarely does. Defensively, he prefers to parry punches rather than slip and counter like Chilemba.

Though Chilemba started his career three and half years earlier and has eleven more professional matches on his record, he's actually nine months younger than Chudinov. Chilemba is the naturally bigger man, having vacillated between the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions while Chudinov is a career super middleweight. Chilemba was a career high 188.25 pounds in his last fight on December 13, so it could be a challenge to make the 168 pound limit comfortably as he hasn't done so in nearly ten years.

This fight is scheduled for ten rounds.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Sinakin Remains Undefeated

Light heavyweight Benny "Jewish Bulldog" Sinakin defeated veteran Leroy Jones by unanimous decision tonight at Bally's in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Sinakin dominated the fight. Jones was very defensive and fought ugly. He was deducted a point on two occasions, once in the third and another in the fourth, for excessive holding. Jones was hurt just before the final bell to end the third round.

The Jewish Bulldog often rushed in and threw hard combinations trying to find holes in Jones's tight guard. Sinakin wasn't afraid to attack the body. He didn't jab much on the way because he didn't have to. The few times Jones released his hands, he unintentionally warned Benny with a loud yell. Sinakin swiveled his hips from time to time to taunt Jones, who still refused to engage.

Sinakin swept the cards with each of the three judges scoring the contest 40-34. Sinakin is now 6-0 with three KOs while Jones, who still hasn't been stopped, is 3-8 with two KOs.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Yuri Foreman Could Return to the Ring

Rabbi Yuri Foreman is considering another return to the ring. Yesterday, he posted on Facebook that he hopes to share news about a comeback soon. Foreman has hinted before about potentially reinvigorating his boxing career in the past couple of years.

Foreman held the WBA junior middleweight world title after defeating Daniel Santos on November 14, 2009. Seven months later he lost the belt to future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto in a bout in which Foreman earned tons of respect for fighting with a torn-up knee in the first boxing card at the new Yankee Stadium.

Foreman came back just nine months later and was flat against the talented pressure-fighter, Pawel Wolak. Yuri then retired. But after nearly two years out of the ring, he came back in 2013 and rattled off six straight victories.

Foreman's last fight was on January 13, 2017. He faced pound-for-pound great Erislandy Lara for a world title belt and was stopped in the fourth round.

The Brooklyn-based fighter will turn 40 this year. At his best, he was a lightning-fast master-boxer who was panned by the blood-and-guts crowd for being boring but thoroughly respected by those who appreciate the sweet science.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Sinakin has a New Opponent

Light heavyweight Benny Sinakin is now scheduled to face Leroy "The Jackhammer" Jones this Saturday at Bally's in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Jones has the most experience of any opponent Sinakin has faced.

Sinakin is 5-0 with three KOs. He stopped Ferris Golden in the third round of his last fight in October.

Jones is 3-7 with two KOs. The Nigerian-born resident of St. Louis, Missouri has never been stopped, but he has lost seven of his last eight bouts. All three of his wins have come in the state of Kansas against foes who did not possess a winning record.

Jones, 29 years old, is seven years older than Sinakin, but he has a one-inch height advantage according to BoxRec. This bout is scheduled for four rounds.

Monday, March 2, 2020

Basin and Abramov Win

Nikita Basin and Arthur Abramov each won by way of first round stoppage on a card in Holon, Israel on January 25. Basin won by TKO with thirty seconds remaining in the opening round against Mykhaylo Ihnatiuk.

Basin is now 4-0 with 4 KOs. Ihnatiuk, a Ukrainian who had a six-pound weight advantage heading into the fight, is winless in seven tries. He has been stopped in each of his fights, including against Nur Rabia last October.

Abramov, a 24 year old from Jerusalem, made his debut that night against Alaa Abu Naji. Both fighters came in over the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds. Abramov landed a couple of overhand rights to score the knockout after two minutes and 45 seconds of action. Naji, a 23 year old from Nazareth was also making his debut.