What do Hamburg, London, Montreal and Miami, OK have in common?
Not a whole lot. But all three cities hosted this past week's most prominent boxing and MMA cards.
We didn't learn much of anything new in either sport. The heavyweights in boxing still fail to entertain or offer fans much in terms of long-term hope, and while British mixed martial arts seems to be making huge strides in catching up with their stateside counterparts, it can't quite match up; Canadians love Lucian Bute, and Shawn Porter has huge teeth.
Big Bro Klitschko Delivers a Beatdown in Hamburg
Mark down "Germans love the Klitschkos" as another of those widely-accepted truisms that was reinforced this weekend.
In front of what looked to be a packed O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Vitali Klitschko dealt Shannon Briggs an unholy beating over 12 one-sided rounds. Brigg's pre-fight huffing and puffing again proved more entertaining than his actual in-ring performance, as he waited and took right hands more than he threw anything actually meant to hurt the older Klitschko.
Briggs' notoriously awful stamina was an issue early in the fight, as the 38-year old Brooklyn native had his mouth wide open by the fourth round. By round 9, Briggs was a bruised and swollen mess, while Vitali hadn't taken much punishment at all.
After the 9th and 10th rounds, Shannon Briggs appeared to be having trouble finding his corner, and literally fell off his stool after the 10th. The fight needed to be stopped. Unfortunately, Briggs was allowed to take another two full rounds of punishment, though he did land probably his best punch of the fight in the final round.
Scores for the clear shutout were 120-107, 120-107 and 120-105, with no knockdowns.
News broke in the US this morning that Briggs was sent to the hospital with a concussion and multiple facial fractures, as well as a torn bicep.
Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs showed plenty of balls and heart in a dreadful losing effort. But he needs to put serious thought into retiring. His current record is (and should remain) 51-6-1 1 NC (45).
"Dr. Ironfist" Klitschko, on the other hand, makes it six in a row since making a comeback, nary losing a round in six fights. His overall record improved to 41-2 (38).
According to BoxingScene.com, Team Klitschko is still willing to give David Haye a 50/50 split for what would certainly be one of the two best heavyweight fights to be made - the other being Wladimir Klitschko against Haye.
Antonio Tarver - He Ain't Heavy
Former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver dipped his toe into the proverbial heavyweight waters on Friday night, decisioning Dominican journeyman Nagy Aguilera in Miami, Oklahoma.
The fight was mostly uneventful as Tarver outclassed Aguilera in the first few rounds, proving to have the far quicker hands of the two. The 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Tarver seemed to slow down and possibly hurt his left shoulder in the third or fourth round, allowing Aguilera to occasionally land punches.
Following clearly his best round in the 6th, Aguilera inexplicably backed up to the ropes over and over, from round 7 on. Tarver seemed content to follow him there and land solid left hands, then cruised to victory in the 10th.
All three scorecards read 98-92 for "The Magic Man" Antonio Tarver, who moves to 28-6 (19). Aguilera fell to 16-5 (11).
At the age of 41, Tarver looked much better than many expected. However he was also fed a guy who almost certainly wouldn't pose much of a threat, but hit just hard enough to keep Tarver honest and at times tentative. The older man's feet didn't seem particularly light, he's apparently still susceptible to injury, he slowed down significantly in the later part of the fight and his punching power simply isn't much to worry about for most upper echelon heavyweights.
Ironic that a 41-year old was featured on a boxing show dubbed "The Next Generation."
Any variety that could make for more exciting fights in the heavyweight division is welcomed, but it's doubtful Antonio Tarver is capable of doing that.
On the undercard, Shawn Porter kept his 0 intact and beat down a game but out-manned Hector Munoz over 9 rounds. Munoz tried to apply pressure from the opening bell, but got his head swiveled consistently and Porter fired off quick combinations. Porter's smart movement and fast hands had him looking a little bit like a late-90's Shane Mosley, though his opponent certainly helped him look that way.
And, no offense, but Shawn has a grill that would make Gary Busey uncomfortable. That overbite looks like a skateboard ramp, kid. Sorry.
Brits Mostly Fall Short at UFC 120
At the O2 Arena in London, Michael "The Count" Bisping was the only UK fighter of note to win on the card in front of 17,000+ spectators. Bisping shut out popular Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama, who was coming off an outstanding scrap against perennial brawl-maker Chris Leben at UFC 116.
Bisping, now 20-3, seemed to do a little more than the DREAM veteran Akiyama in at least two of the three rounds, though the action was close and Akiyama appeared to wobble Bisping on more than one occasion.
"Sexyama" is now 13-3, 2 NC.
On the undercard, Mike Pyle improved to 20-7-1 in upsetting Brighton, England's John Hathaway, who entered the bout undefeated at 14-0.
The fight itself was relatively entertaining, as Pyle and Hathaway traded shots in the opening stanza before Pyle took over and dragged his opponent down. The second stanza began with Hathaway looking to change the momentum, but Pyle locked him up in an inverted triangle from the mount, ending the round by hammering away at Hathaway's head. Pyle continued to take the fight to the ground and dominate in the last round, which caused the London crowd to boo emphatically.
Also televised was another upset of Nottingham's Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy, by former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit.
The Albuquerque native Condit's record went to 26-5, as it took him under a round to bring the fight to Hardy and catch him hard as they traded left hooks. Condit's hook simply got there first and landed more flush, and the follow up right hand on the ground put Hardy out.
The loss makes it two in a row for Hardy, who dropped a tough decision to Georges St. Pierre in March of this year. His record goes to 23-8, 1 NC.
Heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Travis Browne earned a draw in a sloppy, foul-filled affair early on the SpikeTV card.
Browne came out swinging wildly and was awkwardly effective in the first round, stunning Kongo and forcing him backwards at will. Browne gassed out in the second though, and Kongo pushed him to the cage, landing a number of short knees to Browne's thighs that clearly bothered the Californian. Browne again looked winded in the third round, but was able to smother Kongo's inside work enough to force the Parisian to clutch Browne's shorts repeatedly, even after being deducted a point by referee Marc Goddard.
The deduction cost Kongo the fight, as all three judges scored the bout 28-28. Kongo's record is now 15-6-2, while Browne remains undefeated at 10-0-1.
Paul Sass of Liverpool, England earned "Submission of the Night" honors with a triangle choke over Canadian Mark Holst.
Sass looked uncoordinated in attempting to strike his way to a takedown, but succeeded and adjusted his submission several times before forcing Holst to tap out with only 15 seconds remaining in the 1st round.
"Ultimate Fighter" Season 9 winner James Wilks was among the talented group of British fighters to be defeated, losing a shutout unanimous decision to Canadian Claude Patrick.
Patrick outdid Wilks standing up and on the ground through 3 rounds, working in ground and pound and maintaining top position while fighting off Wilks' submission attempts. Wilks wound up cut below the right eye by the end of the bout.
According to MMAJunkie, the overall lack of success of the British guys on the card is no reason to halt UFC's expansion into Europe. The president of the UFC, Dana White, acknowledged the unwavering support for the UFC and mixed martial arts in the UK, remarking:
"Fans ... want to see Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping and Hathaway and these guys win, but when they don't, I don't think it's like, 'Oh [expletive], we're never going to another UFC event because the English guys didn't win.'"
Brinkley Gets Clobbered
IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who may also be the best super middleweight in the world, thoroughly outclassed former "Contender" reality show participant Jesse Brinkley stopping him in 9 rounds at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
Brinkley's odd head movement made Bute more hesitant than usual early on, and Brinkley was occasionally able to land a surprise counter, though Bute's shots were clearly more significant. Bute almost let Brinkley into the fight by taking a round off in the fourth, but seized control back in the fifth with a nasty body attack that put Brinkley down.
Hoping to catch some luck and land a big shot, Brinkley picked up his pace in the 6th and 7th rounds, but mostly walked into snappier shots from Bute, who worked a nice uppercut throughout as Brinkley leaned forward. Bute's size advantage became more apparent later in the fight, as most of his solid shots visibly affected Brinkley in one way or another.
Brinkley was strafed with uppercuts again in the 8th and 9th rounds, going down in each. Hurt to the body, cut and beaten up, Brinkley was stopped at 2:47 of round 9.
While the win did little to boost Bute's claim to 168 lb. greatness, it proved once again how popular the Romanian-born transplant has become in Montreal. Over 11,000 people showed up to watch the mismatch.
On the undercard, another Romanian fighter overcame a hard second-round knockdown and being subsequently rocked by Omar Sheika, to earn an entertaining unanimous decision.
The light heavyweights traded combinations a number of times in the fight, with Diaconu generally getting the better of it when they did. Otherwise "The Shark" Diaconu outworked the veteran and worked a decent jab, fending off a late surge by Sheika.
Omar Sheika falls to 30-10 (21), and is expected to announce his retirement following the bout.
Diaconu was coming off back-to-back losses to current light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, and improves to 27-2 (15) with the win.
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