Saturday 14 July 2012

Haye Defeats Chisora

In his comeback fight, David Haye has defeated Dereck Chisora to send a huge message to Vitali Klitschko.


The former heavyweight champion of the world, stopped 'Del Boy' in the fifth round after four very tight rounds. Haye edged most of the rounds but it was by no means comfortable for the Haymaker who was being caused a few problems by the forward moving Chisora.


After all the build up, the first round was fiery with Chisora forcing Haye to throw alot more shots than usual, although he was on the backfoot, Haye was using enough force to keep Chisora at arms length. The second round was much of the same with the Haymaker just edging a close round.


The end of the third was where it all set off, the referee and the fighters failed to hear the bell as Chisora caught Haye to put the former world champion in all kinds of trouble, he would have been relieved to see the end of the round. The fourth saw Haye being caught more as Chisora was getting into the fight more however the Haymaker again edged this round.


The fifth became the dramatic round though as for the first time his career, Dereck Chisora was knocked to the floor as a slick looking Haye took control of the fight. Del Boy bravely got up and tried to retaliate but got knocked down again leaving the ref no choice but to end the fight.




The fighters embraced after the fight which was good to see, I'm not sure where Chisora goes from here to be honest, he's lost all his big fights and will struggle to recover from this. Haye looked very classy in this fight and surely a bout with Vitali Klitschko awaits.







  

Saturday Night Boxing

Tonight sees two blockbuster matches involving British fighters.


First up is David Haye vs Dereck Chisora, this came about after February's Munich brawl following Chisora's points loss to Vitali Klitschko. This is Haye's comeback match after a very brief retirement, his last outing was a very disappointing world title unification defeat to Wladimir Klitschko. Chisora has lost his last two fights and will be desperate to get back on track here.


The brawl in Munich left a bad taste in everyone's mouth and resulted in Chisora losing his British boxing licence. The Luxembourg Boxing Federation then stepped in to sanction this fight, this led to legal disputes between the organisations over whether the Upton Park fight should even take place.


Lets focus on the boxing itself though and this is a fight that is drawing the interests of many, not least the Klitschko's. Haye is the big favourite here, he is the former world champion and has only lost twice in his career. Chisora has lost three matches which have all been title matches, Haye is quick for a Heavyweight and has plenty of power, Chisora can take a punch so I can see him losing on points.




The second fight of big British interest will see reinstated WBA Super Light Welterweight champion Amir Khan take on WBC Light Welterweight champion Danny Garcia. The American Garcia is unbeaten and faces his biggest test to date against Khan who has a major point to prove following the Lamont Peterson controversy. A Khan win would almost certainly see him move up a division and maybe a meeting with Floyd Mayweather Jr.




A Garcia win would also see his career move to the next level with maybe an attempt to clean up the whole division. Garcia's father has been mouthing off a lot in the build up to this match, we will soon see if that has had a positive or negative for his son.




I can see Khan winning this one, I can see his speed and power being too much for Garcia and I can't see him making the same mistakes he did against Peterson, Freddie Roach is too good a coach for that.     








Sunday 1 July 2012

Spain vs Italy Review

So here it was, the final of the 2012 European Championships between holders Spain and Italy.


The two sides had met in their opening match which ended one all, so this had the makings of a good contest. In that match the Italians took the game to Spain and even took the lead, the Spanish started that contest without a recognised striker and were expected to do the same here. Italy had surprised Germany in their semi final to qualify whilst Spain had edged out rivals Portugal on penalties.


The Spanish started this game strongly as they attacked from the get go, they were pushing and probing the Italian defence which lead to their opening goal with David Silva heading in after good work from Cesc Fabregas. Spain were totally on top here as Italy barley threatened. Left back Jordi Alba completed a great run with a fine finish as he doubled Spain's lead four minutes before the interval.


The Italians brought on opening match goal scorer Antonio Di Natale for the second half, this showed much needed attacking intent and he was denied by Iker Casillas in what was probably his side's best chance. Things got worse for the Italians as Thiago Motto pulled up injured just minutes after coming on and as they had used all their substitutes, they had to play the rest of the game with ten men.


Spain were in cruise control for the rest of the match and put the icing on the cake as Golden Boot winner Fernando Torres and Chelsea team mate Juan Mata, secured the win as well as the biggest winning margin in a European final.


So Spain have become the first international team to win three major trophies in a row, surely now they must be classed as the greatest international side of all time. Italy did well to reach the final but were totally outclassed as Spain showed why they are so great. It has been a fantastic tournament and roll on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.