By Derek Bonnett: Slow and steady still wins the race. It may not have been pretty, but former U.S. Olympian Dominic Breazeale proved more in his five rounds with Amir Mansour than his fellow heavyweight hopefuls Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker combined. Breazeale showed character in the face of his most difficult challenge, a bonafide heavyweight contender with some of the best power in the division. Breazeale, a slow starter, fell behind early; yet, he remained calm. The American prospect was dropped by the American ex-convict in round three. Breazeale went down hard, but he rose and he rose with composure. He looked like a prospect on the verge of losing his “0”, but instead, he survived the round. Breazeale got his straight punches going in round four and began to turn the tide. In round five, Breazeale showed his own power, landing an uppercut which would eventually lead to Mansour’s surrender. It was later expressed that Mansour’s jaw had been fractured by that shot. Breazeale was on the brink of defeat, but instead of folding like so many other heavyweight hopefuls, he remained steady, fought at his pace and worked his game plan. Breazeale shed his prospect cloak last night and now can be regarded as a viable heavyweight contender. He still has room to grow, but his based a big test in a very telling fashion.
SecondsOut fighters On the Move:
On Friday, January 22, at Faleata Sports Complex, Apia, Samoa, Joseph Parker stopped Jason Bergman in eight rounds of a heavyweight bout. Parker dropped Bergman in rounds two, seven, and eight. Parker lifted his ledger to 18-0-0 (16). Bergman sank to 25-12-2 (16).
Parker remained SecondsOut’s number ten rated heavyweight for the time being.
Also on this date, at Potharam Riverside, Ratchaburi, Thailand, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai scored a fourth round KO over Arega Yunian in a super flyweight contest. A body shot from the former champion folded Yunian over, forcing him to vomit. The contest was waved off. Rungvisai raised his record to 38-4-1 (35). Yunian fell to 3-6-0 (0).
Rungvisai remained SecondsOut’s fourth rated super flyweight with his impressive activity.
Also in Thailand, Rey Loreto scored a reported first round KO over an unidentified opponent. Loreto improved his dossier to 21-13-0 (13). No other information about the bout is available.
Loreto remained SecondsOut’s sixth rated light flyweight in the world today.
On Saturday, January 23, at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, USA, Danny Garcia defeated Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision in a twelve round vacant WBC welterweight title bout. All three judges scored the bout 116-112 for Garcia. Garcia, now a two-division champion, raised his record to 32-0-0 (18). Guerrero slipped to 33-4-1 (18).
Garcia remained SecondsOut’s number six-rated welterweight in the world today.
Also On the Move, underneath the Garcia-Guerrero bout, Sammy Vasquez forced tough Aaron Martinez into sixth round corner retirement. Martinez cited a left arm injury as his reason for exiting the contest. Vasquez, now 21-0-0 (15), possesses a handful of quality wins and bumps Sadam Ali from the tenth place ranking at welterweight.
Also On the Move, from the same card, Dominic Breazeale forced Amir Mansour into sixth round corner retirement. An uppercut produced what was described as a hairline fracture to Mansour’s jaw. Breazeale raised his record to 17-0-0 (15) and captured the number nine position in SecondsOut’s heavyweight rankings. Anthony Joshua was pushed to number ten. Joshua Parker was forced out of the top ten for the time being.
SecondsOut ranked fighters in action through Sunday, January 24, 2015:
On Saturday, January 30:
At Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Sergey Kovalev versus Jean Pascal in a twelve round IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight title rematch
For a more in depth look at Derek Bonnett’s SecondsOut world rankings:
https://www.secondsout.com/rankstat/secondsout-rankings
Be sure to “LIKE” the SecondsOut Facebook page.
January 23, 2016
