Polish Heavyweight Tomasz Bonin (41-3, 22) is relatively well known by boxing fans for two fights against British fighters. In the summer of 2004 a then unbeaten (26-0) Bonin came to London and faced a then 16-0 Audley Harrison in a bout for the World Boxing Foundation Heavyweight title. In that bout Audley stopped Bonin in 9 rounds.
Less than 3 years after losing to Audley, Bonin again traveled to London, England and was again stopped, this time inside a round by the then Cruiserweight kingpin David "The Hayemaker" Haye (who at the time of writing seems to be having fun in an Australian jungle).
Interestingly in his fight before facing Haye, Bonin faced a Slovakian debutant known as Pavel Silvin (0-1). Silvin was genuinely a scary looking bloke, stood at over over 6 foot, with deep set eyes, a shaved head and an angry looking face. To be honest he looked every bit like the stereo typical escaped mental patient, almost as if he'd punched himself out of the hospital that he was being held in.
Sadly Silvin's only real quality was that he looked the part. When it came to boxing he seemed to have genuinely no idea what he was doing in a ring. Within seconds of the opening bell Silvin was pioretting and falling face first on to the canvas, walking around like a man who had gotten lost on his way to the local park and turning all the way around time and time again. What made the bout even funnier was that he actually dropped Bonin inside a minute.
Sadly after dropping Bonin Silvin really did little of note other than act like the crown prince of the ring with punches so wide that he could have hit the crowd, who at times can be heard loudly reacting to the farce in front of them.
Thankfully, for those in attendance this farce only went on for a round and a bit before referee Grzegorz Molenda could mount a rather slow 10 count to Silvin who appeared relieved it was all over.
Thankfully, despite this fight taking place in Poland, Polsat were nice enough to show the fight (on the undercard of Krzysztof Wlodarczyk v Steve Cunningham I) and as a result youtube user 14caratboxing has been able to upload it for us all to watch (both clips were uploaded by the same user).
Later this week Filipino Bantamweight John Mak Apolinario (17-2-1, 4) faces Panamanian Robert Vasquez (32-5, 22) for the WBA "Interim" Bantamweight title. For hardcore boxing fans, Vasquez is a familiar fighter having once been the WBA Light Flyweight champion and also the WBA "interim" Flyweight title. However Apolinario is, well, obscure to say the least.
Thankfully despite being almost unknown by the boxing world at large Apolinario has been involved in a bout worthy of weirdboxing.info and rather amazingly it was his most recent bout as he faced Menard Zaragosa (currently 5-9, 3, but then 5-4, 3) .
After the second round of bout between Apolinario and Zaragosa, Zaragosa charged from the ring and made a bee line for the toilets. The excellent Philboxing.com reported that Zaragosa "shockingly sprinted faster than Usain Bolt from the ring towards the public restrooms, being disqualified by the referee". ( Although boxrec.com have the win down as a 2nd round retirement).
Presumably after just 6 minutes of action Zaragosa realised that he'd "forgot to go" prior to the bout. A rather embarrassing way to lose a fight, however it'd probably be less embarrassing than winning with skid-marks.
Sadly, I like obscure bouts but this appears to have been to obscure for anyone to have caught on film. However if anyone does have it on film and wishes to share it, then let me know (leave a comment, or e-mail )
One of the often asked questions on boxing forums by new fans is "just how hard is the sport of boxing?" And sadly this is a hard question to answer. Many seem to think that legendary toughmen like Lenny MClean could have competed well as a boxer and really made a name for himself had he wanted to go in to the sport rather than become an enforcer. One man supposedly toughman who did try out boxing, and found it harder than he expected was Britain's Joe Savage.
Savage was supposed to have been a bare knuckle fighter from Britain, a legitimate toughman who was apparently 41-0 (40) in street fights and the English bare knuckle champion. A bit like the Kimbo Slice of his day, if you will. With his bare knuckle credentials behind him, Savage looked to turn his hand at sanctioned boxing, and in the early 1990's he attempted to start a professional career.
In 1993 Savage was chosen as one of the fighters to take part in the up coming "People's Choice One Night Heavyweight Tournament". Sadly however in preparation for the tournament, a precursor to the likes of Prizefighter, Savage damaged his hand and was forced to pull out of the tournament. The following year however Savage did get his taste of professional boxing as he faced former world title contender "Smokin'" Bert Cooper.
Despite once being an all action exciting fighter, Cooper had been on the slide and had lost 4 of his previous 6 bouts (including his last 2) and his record read 31-13 (26). Whilst he had twice challenged for world titles he had also been stopped 9 times and was certainly seen as a fighter who, although packing a punch, wasn't as durable as he once was. In fact a fighter like Savage, with some claimed 40KO's in street fights should have enjoyed some success...the fight however showed the difference in class between a street fighter and a trained boxer. Enjoy.
In the United Kingdom we don't often see fights fought outdoors, sure it does happen occasionally but it's a rarity because of the "good old British weather". Oddly however our German cousins often have fights held outdoors and they almost always go off with out a hitch, however there is always the odd one that goes wrong.
Back just a few weeks ago, on September 14th veteran Timo Hoffmann (40-7-2-1, 23) was facing German youngster Steffen Kretschmann (16-2-0-1, 15) in an outdoor venue when the unthinkable happened...it started to rain. Now what exactly can you do when it rains at an outdoor venue?
If it's a little bit of rain you can probably, just about, get away with fighting a round or two, however when the ring gets slippery and the fights start to fall the bout then becomes a danger. This is sadly what happened in the Hoffmann v Kretschmann as the rain, although not terrible, was starting to make the ring worryingly slippery and twice forcing Kretschmann to fall to the canvas.
The early round were fought fine, as well the rest of the undercard, however in round 5 you could faintly hear the rain falling in and around the ring (in the video you can hear a "pit-pat" sound from midway in the fifth round). By the end of round 5 you see rain drops over the corner (look carefully at Hoffman's corner between rounds) and by the time they came out for round 6 the rain had become heavier and louder.
Within 20 seconds of the restart Kretschmann had slipped in the middle of the ring as the canvas had become almost like and ice rink, he'd slip again just 32 seconds later before the referee, Andre Leloup (who was now beginning to look soaked himself) decided that enough was enough and called an early ending to proceedings.
As a result of the rain the bout was ended in round 6 with the unusual outcome of "6 round no contest due to rain", perhaps a lesson, if ever one was needed, that boxing is often fought indoors for a reason.
The video below comes thanks to WBCA WM
When you have two hard hitting Heavyweights in the ring you tend to get one of two things happening in the ring. On one hand you can get a very cautious bout where neither man engages for fear of having their clock cleaned if they make a mistake on the other hand you get a bout that is all aggression as neither man wants to give the other a chance to get into their rhythm.
When Jimmy Thunder (31-7, 31) met Crawford Grimsley (20-1, 18) in early 1997 we had one such bout where we didn't know if they were going to respect each others power or trust themselves to get the job done...it didn't take long to find out in fact it took little more than a punch each for us to know the answer.
Amazingly prior to this bout Grimsley had gone 12 rounds with George Foreman in Japan. Following this bout however Grimsley's career was all but over as he went 2-2-1 in his next 5 bouts before retiring in 2002 with a professional record of 22-4-1 (20). Whilst Thunder himself carried on it was the final highlight of his career as his record started to slide losing 7 of his next 10 before retiring in 2002 with a record of 35-14 (28).
Video for this fight comes thanks to steven76ism
Whilst Randall Bailey (43-7-0-1, 37) may now be the IBF Welterweight champion it wasn't that long ago that he was traveling around trying to get his chance to fight for a title. In 2010 Bailey fought twice with both fights taking place in Belgium (you know, that hotbed of pugilism...), in the first he defeated Jackson Osei Bonsu in what was supposed to be an IBF title eliminator. Sadly for Bailey the win over Bonsu didn't get him the expected IBF world title fight, instead he had to return to Belgium to face Moroccan Said Ouali. I have no idea why this fight in particular was in Belgium, but like the first bout it was sold as an IBF title Eliminator.
The bout started well for the hard hitting Bailey who dropped Ouali in the opening round but it was in the second round that controversy struck with a moment that could only be described as bizarre.
Early in the second round Bailey dropped Ouali for the second time in as many rounds. Oauli recovered to his feet hut kept looking towards the corner, little did he know that he would get a better look at the corner just a minute later. For some peculiar reason Bailey picked up his opponent around the knees then appeared to sit him on the corner. It looked like something from the WWE (or TNA if you're that way inclined) though it suddenly got strange as Ouali failed to get his balance and fell straight over the top rope landing on a table outside the ring.
This whole thing lead to the commentator exclaiming "oh wow wow" whilst Oauli's corner team jumped on the canvas and the referee ordered Bailey to a neutral corner. It didn't take long for the bout to be ended via No Contest and Ouali soon ended up ina neck brace as a precaution. Sadly for Bailey this wasn't an over-the-top Battle R
Following the bout Ouali has gone 1-1, being stopped by Carson Jones in his most recent bout whilst Bailey, as we know claimed the IBF Welterweight title shocking Mike Jones with a peach of uppercut.
Video thanks to PrimeSportBelgium
For boxers being punched in the face is part of the job, for referees however it can be an occupational hazard, just ask the unfortunate Ukrid Sarasas who was laid out by a stray punch back in 2007.
Back in October 2007 a young Japanese Welterweight by the name of Yoshihiro Kamegai was 5-0 (5) and was seen as a genuinely promising hard hitter. He was stepping up to the 10 round distance for the first time in his career as he faced the tough Yashuhiro Kondo (10-4-2, 5). What few expected was that Kamegai would end two careers in the same night.
With around 20 seconds of round 3 left the fighters are separated by Sarasas who takes a sweeping and powerful left hook from Kamegai clean to the side of the head and drops instantly. Although Sarasas tries to recover to his feet he simply can't and eventually falls flat on his face before finally getting up (with assistance) and wobbling over to Kamegai in a neutral corner, and then replaced for the rest of the fight by Vinny Martin.
The following round Kamegai scored a knockout over the correct man, stopping Kondo at the very end (2:59) of round 4.
Following the bout Kondo never returned to the ring, retiring 10-5-2 (5) and Sarasas never returned to referee a bout (as far as we're aware). Kamegai however is seen by some as one of the most promising Welterweights in the world and currently has a record of 21-0 (18) having also made an excellent US debut last year stopping Hector Munoz in 6 rounds. In fact Kamaegai is currently ranked #11 by the WBA.
The video below (which sadly just shows the events of the knockdown) is courtesy of cmbnoticias
We at weirdboxing expect to see some unusual and stupid bouts but we don't really expect to see some that we feel are are truly corrupt. Sadly however we occasionally get a bout that looks so rottenly officiated that we can't help but question whether or not the bout was on the level.
This bout, from October 2011 featured American based journeyman Cisse Salif facing the German based Serbian Alexander Petkovic. Sadly it wasn't about the fighters it was more about the referee (Manfred Kuechler) who really stole the show as he appeared to royally screw Salif with some thoroughly disgusting decisions that left serious questions over his neutrality.
The bout started pretty evenly with Petkovic landing the better blows in the opening 2 rounds before Salif started to show some more confidence in the 3rd round. Inside the opening minute of the 4th round Salif dropped Petkovic with a beautiful straight and it was obvious that Salif had the power to hurt Petkovic and it wasn't long until Petkovic was down for a second time. Salif let Petkovic off the hook and seemed to allow Petkovic to survive the round.
It was in round 5 that Manfred Kuechler first put himself into the action and took a point from Salif for a shot on the hip. Soon after the point had been taken Petkovic was dropped with a solid body shot, rather than starting a count the referee ruled the blow a low blow, taking a second point from Salif. Petkovic was then dropped from a clear head shot and again the referee warmed Salif threatening a disqualification. It started to seem that anything Salif was landing was punishable as Keuchler swiftly destroyed any semblance of a boxing contest. Sadly it wasn't just a case of Salif getting punished for hitting Petkovic's head but Petkovic's own low blows were being ignored by the referee.
Salif set off in the 6th round to finish Petkovic and dropped him early in the round, Petkovic got straight back up and dropped from another body shot with the referee instantly disqualifying Salif to a loud chorus of boos from the crowd who felt completely ripped off.
Whilst the referee was at the centre of the controversy we also feel the need to point out that controversial promoter Ahmet Öner is in charge of Petkovic's career. Öner was also the promoter when Danny Williams faced Konstantin Airich and has a history of being involved in controversial bouts.
Video below thanks to 5StarFighting
Boxing can genuinely be the most unpredictable of sports and can surprise even the most hardcore of fans. This bout from 1988 featuring John Meekins and Mohammad Kawoya may have one of the most memorable endings seen in a ring, yet one that seems to have some how flown under the radar of boxing fans in recent years. It's one of the (very) few time that we can think of where the winner is actually left crawling and struggling to get back to his feet.
Going into the bout the 23 year old Meekins (18-1-2, 11) was expected to defeat the Ugandan Mohammed Kawoya (11-3, 5) with out too many problems and soon afterwards move on to a world title fight. Sadly for Meekins the bout wasn't as straight forward as it was supposed to be and Kawoya, despite being dropped in round 2 fought back hard and actually dropped Meekins in the opening seconds of round 3.
Meekins had gotten up from the knock down and had seemed annoyed at being dropped and swiftly dropped Kawoya again. This knockdown seemed to be the start of the bouts bizarre ending, which saw Meekins close in for the kill trying to get rid of Kawoya quickly. The referee (Paul Venti) aware of Meekins' reputation of being a hard puncher stepped in as soon as Meekins started unleashing a volley of shots on Kawoya. Almost as soon as Venti stepped in to stop the bout Kawoya landed his best shot of the fight that not only dropped Meekins but completely scrambled his senses.
Kawoya started celebrating instantly thinking he had scored a genuine knockout over Meekins though the referee had already ended the bout and went on to award Meekins the win by TKO. A decision that Kawoya and his team seemed rather annoyed by. Later the men agreed to a rematch but Meekins later pulled out and Kawoya retired with out fighting again.
Meekin's would continue to fight and actually beat the legendary Saoul Mamby in his next fight before being stopped by Meldrick Taylor in an IBF Light Welterweight title fight. This was to be the start of the end for Meekins who lost 3 of his following 7 bouts and retired in in 1994 with a record of 24-5-2 (17).
The video below is thanks to supsterjr, if you just wish to see the controversial ending we advise you watch the video from 10:10.
Some fights from boxing folklore seem more like stories that have been made up than something that really happened and this 1989 bout is one such bout. In it Tony Wilson, the former British Light Heavyweight Champion faced the previously unbeaten Steve McCarthy. Going into the bout Wilson, a former Olympian and ABA champion was 16-2 (13), just 1 fight removed from losing his British title to veteran Tom Collins. McCarthy was 9-0-1 (5) and the then reigning Southern Area Light Heavyweight champion who seemed to be heading towards the British title.
Early in the 3rd round McCarthy dropped Wilson and then went hunting for the finish before Wilson could recuperate. The clip below starts as McCarthy unleashes a fearsome onslaught on Wilson with the referee keeping a close eye on the two fighters...and then we get to the real story of the bout.
Although the referee (Adrian Morgan) is looking at the two fighters he notices another person in the ring, a woman holding her shoe. Despite Morgarn's attempt to stop the woman, she manages to land a solid shoe-shot to McCarthy who immediately thinks the fight has been stopped with Wilson's corner man climbing on to the apron...it later turned out the woman was Tony Wilson's mother!
It would be fair to assume McCarthy would win by DQ due to the fact he was hit with a shoe by the mother of his opponent...or due to the fact that Wilson's corner man climbed on to the apron. Instead Mrs Wilson was escorted from the ring and McCarthy left the ring whilst getting his shoe-inflicted injury seen to. The referee tried to restart the bout but McCarthy refused to return to the ring and the referee ruled Wilson the winner by 3rd round TKO!
Following this bout McCarthy got a British Light Heavyweight title fight and actually claimed the belt by out pointing Serg Fame over 12 rounds. After claiming the title McCarthy's record tumbled and he retired in 1994 with a record of 12-4-1 (5) which included DQ losses to both Henry Maske and Dariusz Michalczewski. Wilson on the other hand barred his mother from ringside and his career suddenly fell apart with only 3 wins from his next 10 fights before he retired in 1993 with a career ledger of 20-8-1 (16).
The video below can be seen thanks to steveboxer924
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