This past weekend was a huge one for heavyweight boxing as no less than five contenders and up and comers were in action. On Showtime, WBC World Champion Deontay Wilder was pushed into the ninth round by veteran Eric Molina before scoring the knock out stoppage. For Wilder, it was a triumphant return to his home state of Alabama, which was hosting it’s first heavyweight title bout ever.
It remains to be seen what Wilder’s next defense will be – and though Molina deserves credit – but Wilder will be expected to step up the level of his competition here in the near future.
Down in New Zealand, 23-year-old burgeoning star Joseph Parker made short work of Germany’s Yakup Saglam, knocking him out in the second round of their bout. Parker moves his record to a perfect 14-0 and he is already on the schedule to fight again in early August. Parker is expected to head to Las Vegas for his next training camp, and the young kiwi is certainly one of the top prospects in the world right now.
Several contenders returned tot he ring in Europe as well, as Finland’s Robert Helenius scored a third round KO over Beka Lobjanidze as he continues on the comeback trail. This was a scheduled eight-rounder, as Helenius works his way back from a series of layoffs that saw him fight just twice since 2011, but Helenius is now 21-0 and back in 2011, he was a top 10 heavyweight, and that is where he will want to get back to after a series of tune-up fights that show his return to the active roster. In France, Carlos Takam stopped veteran Michael Sprott in the fifth round of their scheduled 12-rounder. Takam is now 32-2-1 and he has won two bounce-back fights in a row since his October 2014 loss to Alexander Povetkin. Time to step up for both winners.
Back on Friday on the “Premier Boxing Champions” broadcast airing on SpikeTV, Poland’s Artur Szpilka caused veteran Manuel Quezada to quit after three rounds to push his record to an impressive 19-1.
This weekend goes down as another sign that heavyweight boxing could be in for a renaissance as five fighters that are looking to work their way into the title picture in the next year or two were all in action, and though all were really big favorites at the books, all of them were able to score stoppage wins, going 5-for-5.
