Review of the Fights (18/09/23) + SmithEubank2 Review

I didn’t get a chance to review the fight which occurred a couple weeks ago so I thought I’d cover it quickly here. Eubank was knocked out badly in the first match however you wouldn’t know that based on his body language. He was super confident and boxed the head off Smith. Smith never got going and whether you think it was his ankles or whatever, he just couldn’t keep up with Eubank. Chris topped off this career best performance by getting the stoppage late and it really was an impressive one from him. He called out Benn, Brook and GGG after the fight with all of those fights being disappointing. Eubank has a chance to finally win a world title but instead he wants to cash out. I don’t blame him but I just wish we could see him against the best of his division and get to see just how good he can be with his new trainer Bomac.

The first fight I saw was the Xander Zayas fight but unfortunately I only caught parts of it. Xander looks to be the business and will be a future star going forward especially with his Puerto Rican backing. He is a really good fighter as well and Top Rank should be able to secure him a world title opportunity within the next two years. I think after a few more developmental fights he’ll be ready for world honours and he will be one to watch. The co main even was up next and it was really a showcase fight for the youngest Vargas brother. Emiliano is definitely the best Vargas since his father and he looks like he could be a great fighter. It’s still too early to tell when he’s fighting this lower tier opposition but he’s fun to watch and looks to have legit skills and power. I can’t wait to see where his career goes and I for one will be paying a lot of attention.

The main event promised to be a firefight and it was fun after all. It wasn’t the most skilled affair but it was an entertaining enough fight with Lopez doing more work and being much more active than Gonzalez. There were some people who thought Joet was hard done by but I think the decision was fair. Lopez was out working him and did a lot of damage over the 12 rounds. Just like always though Gonzalez gave a good account of himself and stays in fun fights. Hopefully we can see a unification next for Lopez preferably against WBO champ Robeisy Ramirez as they are both with Top Rank so it should be easy to arrange.

The only fight I saw on the Golden Boy show was the main event in which lightweight contender William Zepeda took on Mercito Gesta to advance up the rankings. We all knew Zepeda was going to win however this was still and impressive outing from him. He has a crazy work rate and is really a problem for the top dogs of the division. He does need to tighten up his defence however he’s just going to get hit regardless with his constant pressure style. If he gets a big fight I’m expecting him to make it very fan friendly and maybe we will see him in a world title fight once Haney vacates.

The Japanese card on Monday morning started off well with what promised to be an interesting fight between WBO champ Junto Nakatani and Argi Cortes. Cortes had given Estrada all he could handle last year so was coming in off some valuable rounds yet he was dominated by Nakatani. Junto couldn’t recreate his knockout of the year but he did make a hard enough fight look easier than it should’ve been. He is definitely top 3 in the division right now and if given the chance could definitely become number 1. His defence needs a bit of work but his offence more than makes up for it. The next fight was between a former kick-boxing champion and a journeyman. Nasukawa participated in the biggest kickboxing event in Japan and is a massive star in his home country however he is most known to the western world as the guy who flailed around like an idiot against Floyd Mayweather in their exhibition a couple years ago. It was hard to take him seriously here however I found out that he actually is a sound operator and has some legit skills. How far he can go is up for debate but he is definitely not a bad boxer. He is definitely lacking in the punching power department though.

The main event between Kenshiro Teraji and Hekkie Budler was amazing and I think it helped that it was on during the middle of the day for me. The fight itself was a great all action fight for as long as it lasted with Teraji winning the rounds while Budler gave as good as he got until he was stopped. It was a really fun fight and was fought on a very high level. It further proves why the lower weight classes are criminally undervalued and why they need to be watched by boxing fans. I think Teraji is in the pound for pound discussion and would love to see him chase all the belts and try for undisputed.