If you thought March was a great month for boxing you were in for a big surprise as April closed out with a deafening bang, for on the 27th HBO teased us with a possible upset that wasn’t to be as fast fading Sergio Martinez managed to survive the valiant effort by Britain’s Brian Murray, on the undercard unheralded Stiverne schooled former hwy challenger Chris Arreola over 12 rounds. On Showtime, a great card was unveiled with Kid Chocolate Quillen brutalizing the game but outgunned Guerrero into a 7th rd stoppage and in the main event veteran ex champ Zab Judah’s defied father time, and amped up the pressure in his late surge in the championship rounds to almost stop and seize the belts from Danny Garcia in a fight that will also be remembered for the drama between both camps b/4 the fight. In far away German Braehmer crushed Averlant to retain his EU Lt Hwy title and on another loaded card in the UK, Amir Khan once again survived a tough challenge by Julio Diaz and Deontay Wilder crushed Audley Harrison in the very first round and sent him into retirement on the undercard. Under the radar in far away Australia on the 28th former multi-division champion James Toney lost a 12 rd decision to Browne while Kevin Johnson secured a win on that undercard. Even before all those fisticuffs on the 20th, baby faced Canelo Alvarev eluded and powered over Austin Trout to seize and unify the WBA and WBC 154 titles clearing the deck for a possible showdown vs Money Mayweather. Don’t believe anyone who tells you boxing is dying, instead punch them in the face and point out just two days in the history of boxing in April and you are hereby advised to retain HBO, SHOWTIME, WEALTH TV etc as the plan to outdo themselves in the next couple of months, so be warned to be ready with your remote for great fights at all times.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
