More This Weekend...

Opponent change for Nigerian Super Middleweight champion Mojeed Okedara (pictured) sees Ekpenyong Benson replaced by Razak Gbadebo whose claim to fame is a one round blowout loss to Light Heavyweight champ Isaac Ekpo.

UBO All-African Heavyweight champion Matamba Postolo of Congo-Zaire guns for that organizations vacant Inter-Continental crown when he faces Argentina strongman Guido Santana over twelve rounds this Saturday in Lubumbashi.

Uganda's US-based Super Welterweight Paul Mpendo gets a big break when he faces former WBA champion Jose Antonio Rivera, on the comeback trail, in an eight rounder at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. Mpendo, owner of an unimpressive 7-7-4 record, is probably considered a "safe" opponent by Rivera;s management, but the ex-champ from Puerto Rico isn't the most reliable on defense presenting the hard-punching Ugandan with an excellent opportunity to score a minor upset.

Action in Blantyre, Malawi, sees local Lightweight prospect Osgood Kayuni attempt to notch his tenth win against a draw when he takes on tough countryman Wellington Balakasi ahead of a scheduled mega-bout next month with fellow unbeaten Zimbabwean hope Ishmael Takudzwa Kuchocha.

Serious Leather Tossing in Accra

Big card this Saturday in Accra sees red hot Lightweight George Ashie, 20-3, square off against Bukom hero Malik Jabir in a twelve rounder with the vacant National title up for grabs. Ashie , knicknamed "Red Dragon", holds the ABU African and UBO World belts, but those titles won't be at stake. Jabir, popularly known as "Bukom Snake", owns an unremarkable 15-7 record, but has faced higher calibre opposition and, although many have written him off, has scored four straight wins and reportedly put himself through a grueling training camp in preparation for this grudge match.

WBA Pan-African Middleweight champ Laatekwei Hammond guns for a second continental belt when he takes on Nigerian champ Sunday King Hammer over twelve rounds for the WBO's version. However, the winner will only become the interim African champ as the actual title was just contested for in May when Hammond's countryman Kojo Issah beat another Nigerian, Alani Sulaimon, for the vacant belt. The WBA version will not be at stake.

A cracker of a twelve rounder pits National Super Bantamweight champ Raymond Commey defending his newly acquired crown against the seasoned former IBF Continental African champ and Commonwealth title challenger Isaac Nettey. A good test for Commey who is on a roll, but having just been involved in a war last month in his title winning effort against Razak Nettey, the champ should consider a long rest before his next outing.

Another National title match, this one for the vacant Bantamweight belt, pits twenty-five year old Michael Barnor against vet campaigner Prosper Ankrah. Barnor, a recent KO loser to Alfred Tetteh for the WBO Africa Super Bantamweight title will be hard pressed to defeat Ankrah who has faced the likes of  world class South Africans Bongani Mhalangu and Tshifiwa Munyai.

Other bouts on the ster-studded card feature former Olympian and undefeated Lightweight Sam Kotey Neecquaye, top Super Featherweight prospect Emmanuel Addo, former WBC Internatioanl champ Osumanu Akaba, and vet Bilal Mohamed.

Sunday Lagos Action

Nigeria, Lagos - Boxing's revival in Nigeria continued on Sunday with a show put on by Feels and Threels Promotions featuring five action-packed, non-title matches.

In a bout scheduled for six rounds, Featherweight national contender Dare Oyewole was rudely outhustled by last-minute novice Waidi Usman who thrilled the crowd with a skillful display scoring a third round stoppage. A Super Lightweight fray saw Akeem Dodoo and Malik Isiaka fight tooth and nail with Dodoo emerging the winner after six rounds by split decision. In a bout scheduled for eight rounds, Sunday Ajuwa iced Ademola Faniyi in the third at Super Middleweight.

A highly anticipated Bantamweight fray witnessed Ghana-based trash-talker Kazeem Owoiya match his prediction of a fourth round victory when he dispatched vet Felix Odion in a scheduled six. His next prediction is that he will gain the National title. And top Super Lightweight Sadiq Ahmed ended his six rounder early by dispatching overmatched Simon Okocha with a third round TKO.
- Results courtesy of Elum Onyeka

Heavyweight Title Set For Abidjan

Long reigning ABC Heavyweight title holder Augustin N'Gou of Cote d'Ivoire makes a long awaited appearance after years of inactivity caused by the civil war in the country. The thirty-seven year old , owner of twenty-five wins against two only defeats, has not seen action since last defending the belt in 2007. An opponent for the scheduled August 6th twelve rounder is yet to be finalized due to the shortage of capable heavyweights in the West African region.

Mzonke Fana Stripped of Title

Reigning IBF Super Featherweight champion Mzonke Fana of South Africa lost his belt in the offices of the New Jersey based sanctioning body without throwing a punch. Fana pulled out of a mandatory defense against top contender Argenis Mendez siting he had no trainer and had never signed a contract.

But, according to his promoter Branco Milenkovic, Fana had verbally agreed to a purse amount and had knowledge of the fight with plenty of time to spare, but had suddenly demanded more money at the last moment. Unable to come to an agreement, Milenkovic said he was obliged to pull the plug on the fight, thus forcing the IBF to impose its strict rules on mandatory defenses so as not to deny the challenger his right to a timely title shot.

Fana's manager, Mava Maulla, is currently seeking assistance from the South African parliament to get Fana reinstated as champion citing loss of imcome.

This And That...

Undefeated Nigerian Welterweight prospect Oyewale Omotoso arrived in Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood after a five year stint in Australia where he compiled an impressive 18-0 record and quickly got signed up by Top Rank. Omotoso joins fellow US-based countryman Lateef Kayode under the tutelage of Manny Pacquiao's famed trainer. Cruiserweight contender Kayode seeks to turn his IBF number one ranking into a world title shot after a final eliminator in October.

Meanwhile, back home in Lagos, top local Light Heavyweight Isaac Ekpo looks to get his career back on track with the help of his state government. The National champ is seeking sponsorship for an ambitious series of fights that include and African title and an Inter-Continental championship.

Kenyan Super Bantamweight Fatuma Zarika ended up on the short end of her Global Boxing Council world title attempt in Germany on Saturday against Elina Tissen dropping a unanimous ten round decision for the vacant belt. Tissen, already the owner of GBU, GBC and WIBF Featherweight titles, improves to 13-2 while ex-WIBF champ Zarika loses only for the fifth time in twenty-eight outings.

In other Kenyan action, Lightweight Samuel Kamau gets another crack at the WBC Youth Intercontinental title on Saturday, this time against Russian Welterweight champ David Avanesyan. The East African's last trip out of town ended in a disastrous one round destruction at the hands of Ghana's Emmanuel Tagoe for the WBO African Super Featherweight title. Kamau will be hard pressed to collect his thirteenth win out of eighteen fights with such a huge jump up in weight.

Countryman Douglas Otieno guns for the vacant North American Boxing Association Light Heavyweight belt in Las Vegas this Firday against undefeated, US-based Russian Sergey Kovalev. If all goes according to script, Otieno should collect his seventh loss in thirty fights following the pattern of losing each of the five times he has traveled abroad. An undercard matchup features Swiss-born Gambian Light Heavyweight prospect Badou Jack attempting to stay unbeaten in eight fights against very tough journeyman Timothy Hall Jr. Although a possessor of an uninspiring 6-11 record, a closer look reveals a rash of split decision losses to very decent opposition suggesting that this will be no walkover for the former Gambian amateur international.

Tanzanian vet Joseph Marwa, 24-17-1, takes on a tuneup eight rounder tonight in Russia, against locally based Albanian Bedarin Toma in anticipation of an October shot at the newly created IBF East/West European Cruiserweight title. Marwa should not have any issues with the hand-picked opponent who has only four fights to his credit.

Weekly Roundup

Kenyan road warrior Geoffrey Munika, recent upset winner of the Masters Title in London, went back into the lion's den yet again, this time to Thailand, to test 34-2 powerhouse prospect Fahsai Sakkreeenin for the IBF Pan-Pacific Super Featherweight title on Tuesday. Munika started well with some nifty boxing, but in the third stanza, the Thai closed the range to score a quick knockdown. Munika, it is reported, hung on gamely to the tenth before being rescued by the ref. The thirty-six year old returns home with a tough 21-16-2 ledger.

On the undercard of Antonio Tarver's big upset IBO Cruiseweight title victory over Danny Green last Wednesday in Sydney, Australia, IBF fifteenth ranked Naoufel Ben Rabah, originally from Tunisa, scored a shocking third round KO over former world champion and number eight contender Isaac Hlatshwayo of South Africa to claim the vacant IBF Australasian Welterweight title. The Aussie resident scored his thirty fourth victory against 3 losses and hopes to get a third crack at a world title while Hlatshwayo must ponder what this disastrous loss, the third of his career against thirty wins, means to his future.

Also on the card, transplanted South African cruiserweight Pieter Cronje became only the second man to stop local journeyman Michael O'Donnell in thirteen losses scoring a fourth round KO. Cronje ups his stats to 13-4-1.

A separate card on Saturday night in Perth saw another transplanted South African, Virgil Kalakoda, unlucky to come up short with a hard fought twelve round split draw for the PABA Super Welterweight belt against local hero and world title challenger Daniel Dawson, 36-3. The thirty-three year old Kalakoda has only won one of his last six fights in compiling a 24-6-3 record, but continues to impress. Nigerian Commonwealth Games representative, Friday Nwaiwu, coming back from a shoulder dislocation loss in his last outing, scored his third win in five fights with a majority decision over Jeremy Allan in a Super Middleweight six rounder. Nwaiwu's only other loss was a hotly contested six rounder to fellow Aussie resident Serge Yannick of Cameroon. Allan drops to 7-8-1.

Burkina Faso Super Lightweight prospect Issouf Kinda, now calling US his home, reeled off his eleventh straight victory with a six round unanimous nod over trialhorse Bryan Abraham in an undercard fight in the Bronx, New York. The Burkinabe, a Silver medalist at the African Championships in 2007, shockingly has no KO's to his credit and it will be interesting to see how far he can go. Abraham, from nearby Schenectady, drops to 8-6.

Chisora Drops Belts To Fury

England, London, Wembley Arena - Zimbabwe-born British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion Derek Chisora, weighing in at a career high 118 kgs, lost his belts to fellow prospect and arch rival Tyson Fury on Saturday night in a bout that failed to live up to its pre-fight trash talk and animosity between the two undefeateds.

The twenty-seven year old Chisora, undefeated in fourteen bouts coming into the fight, got off to a good start rocking his taller opponent in the second round, but let Fury, 116 kgs, off the hook after consistently missing with follow up singular shots. Adjustments by the gutsy challenger, now 15-0, allowed him to sweep the middle rounds until a partially redeeming last round flurry by Chisora closed out the proceedings.

One judge scored it 118-111 while the other two were a tad more generous to the ex-champ at 117-112 reflecting his lack of originality in a tough fight. Chisora loses out on a huge payday against multiple world champion Wladimir Klitschko, but probably saved himself a good tanning in the process.

Okedara Set To Defend National Belt

Nigerian Super Middleweight titlist Mojeed Okedara takes on top contender Ekpenyong Bassey in a twelve rounder at the Sir Olubi Hall this Saturday in Lagos.

The event, organized by Cyril Odeyemi Olanrewaju of O2 Boxing Promotions, continues the comeback of Nigerian boxing after the recent demise of former chairman Prince Adeboye who was blamed for the stagnation of local boxing for the past decade.

Okedara, listed with a record of 6 wins and 5 defeats in a career dating back to 1997, vows to stop the seasoned Benson who has faced the likes of African champions Boniface Kabore and James Obede Toney in their backyards.

After winning the vacant national belt in 2009 with a brutal knockout of former champion Alani Sulaimon, Okedara watched helplessly as his career came to a screeching halt by lack of promotional activity. Even a trip to the US in 2010 proved unfruitful as the hard-punching Nigerian could not secure any fights.

All of a sudden, a beehive of action sees four promotions taking place in Lagos in a span of two months and with a four round knockout under his belt just three weeks ago, Okedara looks ready to clear all obstacles in his path to an African title.