Saturday 7th December
Liam Paro vs Richardson Hitchins
Looks an interesting match up this one , Aussie Paro (25 Fights - 25 Wins (15 KOs)) makes the first defence of his Light Welterweight Title which he won back in June of this year when he beat the highly touted Subriel Matias by a well deserved unanimous decision. Facing him is the unbeaten Richardson Hitchins (18 Fights - 18 Wins (7 KOs)) , and as i say this looks as if it should be a good bout. There was a lot to like about Paro's win over Matias who had the reputation as the divisions boogeyman tbh , whilst Hitchins is coming off a somewhat controversial victory over Gustavo Lemos in his last fight. Stylistically this is a soild match up and like i say should be a good one to watch , Paro has very good technical and tactical prowess and uses angles well , and whilst not known as a puncher he still has a 60% knockout rate , he uses his jab and footwork to good effect and they help him to dictate the pace of the fight , whereas Hitchins is fundamentally very sound he fights defensively , high guard usually , and his 38.9% KO rate kinda shows that hes more defence minded than attack orientated. Hitchins is the taller man by around 2 inches and has quite a reach advantage which he is gonna have to try and make full use of if hes to beat the champion imho. Paro usually comes in fully focussed on the job in hand and i see him beating Hitchins with his high work rate , and heavier hands , using the angles to slip Hitchins high guard. I think Paro comes on strong and tries to make it a dog fight which will certainly play to his strengths and another thing is that i think Paro is physically and mentally stronger than Hitchins which certainly will help his cause and at the end of the day i see him being too much for Hitchins.
Liam Paro To Win
Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez
Looking forward to this one as if its as entertaining and hard fought as their first encounter back in August of last year then it'll be a proper war. Navarrete (41 Fights - 38 Wins (31 KOs) - 2 Losses - 1 Draw) comes into this on the back of the second loss of his career when losing a split decision to the decent Denys Berinchyk back in May of this year for the vacant WBO Lightweight Title , that makes him winless in his last two fights as he drew against Robson Conceicao in his penultimate fight , these fights broke a winning sequence that stretches back to 2012 when he lost his only other fight to Daniel Argueta. Whereas Valdez has won his only bout since losing to Navarette when he stopped Liam Wilson in the seventh round to take the vacant interim WBO Super Featherweight Title in March of this year. Like his opponent hes only lost the two fights to date , the one against Navarette last year and against Shakur Stevenson in 2022 , so no great shame in either of those tbh. As i said earlier these pair met last year and it was a proper battle with Navarette emerging victorious leaving Valdez' face a bloody mess and im envisaging something along those lines again if im being honest. Both of them dont mind trading which makes for a fan friendly fight , but with Navarettes' volume punching style i can see him overwhelming Valdez once again , Navarette is the younger of the pair (29 to Valdez' 33) but has more miles on the clock , fight wise , but he does enjoy a height and reach advantage which he used to his advantage in their first fight and i can see him utilising those again here. Navarette does seem to struggle with boxers with elite level skills and whilst Valdez is no slouch i dont think hes quite at that level and i think that this one will go pretty much the same way as the first , an explosive encounter with plenty of action with Navarette coming out on top , although Valdez will definatley be having his moments in the fight i feel , i just think that Navarettes overall style and volume punching will see him through to the win , although he does stop alot of his opponents he failed to stop Valdez in the first one and i think that this could be case once again , so a points win for Navarette for me in a hard and close fought bout.
Emanuel Navarette To Win .. By Decision
Brad Pauls v Denzel Bentley
Intriguing domestic dust up this one and one that im looking forward to watching , Brad Pauls (21 Fights - 19 Wins (11 KOs) - 1 Loss - 1 Draw) beat Nathan Heaney last time by stoppage after their draw prior to that bout which i felt Pauls had won tbh , whilst Bentley (24 Fights - 20 Wins (17 KOs) - 3 Losses - 1 Draw) arrives on the back of two second round stoppages in his last two bouts , first one was against Danny Dignam where he won the vacant WBO International Middleweight Title , and then defended that title successfully when stopping Derrick Osaze. Prior to that he lost to Nathan Heaney where he lost his British Middleweight Title , his only other losses came to Janibel Alimkhanuly and Felix Cash , both solid operators so no shame in those i have to say. Bentley was expected to beat Heaney so that loss came as a bit of a shock if im being honest but fair play to him hes come out and won his next two fights well. Im expecting a real war here and it could go either way , Pauls is good on the inside and has the volume whilst Bentley carries the better power punches and has , for me , better accuracy .. Pauls is on a high after beating Heaney and i can see him wanting to follow that up with a solid win here , whilst Bentley will want to make a statement after his loss to Heaney and to carry on his current winning streak. To me , this is a proper pick em fight as either man could take it , both will be up for it and both will be going for it , i think both are slightly short of world class but are definatley up there in the domestic and European level .. difficult to call as far as im concerned but i like Brad Pauls and i think he'll take this , whether by points or by stoppage im not sure theres always the possibilty of a stoppage with either of these two but at the moment id be leaning towards points , but im not 100% as Bentley has the power to end the fight if he catches Pauls.
Brad Pauls To Win
Rafael Espinoza vs Robeisy Ramirez
Another decent fight that should make for good viewing , these pair met almost a year ago today (December 9th) with Espinoza coming out on top with a majority decision and i think Robeisy Ramirez will be looking to rectify that here. Cuban Ramirez (16 Fights - 14 Wins (9 KOs) - 2 Losses) put that loss to Espinoza firmly behind him when KO'ing Brandon Benitez in the seventh round in his only bout since the fight back in June of this year , whilst Espinoza (25 Fights - 25 Wins (21 KOs)) continued his unbeaten run when stopping Sergio Sanchez in the fourth round when last seen. Ramirez is a good technical fighter and skillful with good ring IQ and despite having a couple of losses on his resume i dont think we've seen the best of Ramirez yet .. in their first fight it seemed as though he kind of over looked Espinoza and expected to win , and once he got in the ring he found out the hard way that he should of taken Espinoza more seriously. Should be another good fight and Espinoza will be up for it i have no doubt but i think Ramirez will come into this better prepared and with a better game plan and im fairly confident that he will try and execute that game plan well , things could go pear shaped of course but Ramirez has a solid amateur pedigree , obviously as hes Cuban , that he can call on and i just see him edging this one by a decision.
Robeisy Ramirez To Win .. By Decision
Sam Noakes vs Ryan Walsh
And another decent domestic dust up , with the exciting , unbeaten British , Commonwealth and European Lightweight Champion Sam Noakes (15 Fights - 15 Wins (14 KOs) putting his titles on the line against veteran Ryan Walsh (35 Fights - 29 Wins (13 KOs) - 4 Losses - 2 Draws) .. Noakes has fought three times this year , beating Lewis Sylvester (4th round TKO) , Yvan Mendy (UD) and last time out Gianluca Ceglia (Retired in the 8th round) .. he won the vacant European Lightweight Title against Mendy and made his first defence of it against Ceglia. He looks a very decent and exciting prospect and Welsh is gonna have to be at his very best to make a dent in the champion imho , Walsh has won his last two , beating Reece Mould by first round stoppage last time in his only fight this year , he lost against the decent Maxi Hughes three fights ago back in 2022 , and it worries me that in 2021 , 2022 and 2023 he only fought once each year , whereas his opponent seems to like to keep busy in the ring and though he has had an outing this year , i would of honestly preferred to see him with a few more rounds under his belt than a first round stoppage tbh. Decent enough in his own right Walsh seems to fall a tad short when he meets better quality opposition and i would include Sam Noakes as better quality opposition from what ive seen thus far. Saying that he has faced tougher opposition than Noakes has , but then hes been around alot longer (first fight back in 2008 , Noakes' first pro fight 2019) and at 38 id say that this is probably his last chance of a shot at a title but i can only see a Noakes win in this one , i think hes gonna be too much for Walsh , and whilst he'll give it his best , i think he ultimatley falls just short.
Sam Noakes To Win
Solomon Dacres vs David Adaleye
A decent looking domestic fight for the English Heavyweight title between Dacres (9 Fights - 9 Wins (3 KOs)) and Adaleye (13 Fights - 12 Wins (11 KOs) - 1 Loss) , to be honest neither of these are destined for world titles imho but it should be an entertaining encounter nevertheless. Adaleye hasnt been seen since October of last year when he stopped in the seventh round by Fabio Wardley , who has gone on since to draw and then obliterate Frazer Clarke in the rematch , that the was the first loss of his career and it will be interesting to see how he comes on for that loss as he had been showing improvement until then and was doing well against Wardley until the stoppage. Dacres is yet to taste defeat , winning all of his nine bouts so far , his last one coming in July of this year when he beat Michael Webster by seventh round TKO to retain the English Heavyweight title , he'd retained it in the fight before , again against Webster but this time by Majority Decision. Dacres is the better boxer of the two but he does lack in the punching power department , whereas Adaleye can definatley bang , and thats the conundrum here for me , can Dacres outbox Adaleye or does Adaleyes' raw power get the job done ? Dacres is the slightly bigger of the two but not enough to make much of a difference for me. For me despite his technical ability Dacres has kinda under impressed/achieved thus far and if he wants to make his mark hes gonna have to win a bout of this nature. Like i say this is the boxer vs puncher scenario , and for me it goes two ways , Dacres has to box smart and be defensively sound and takes it on the cards or Adaleye stops him , probably from the mid rounds onwards .. i can see Adaleye losing on the cards for the first few rounds as Dacres outboxes him but if Adaleye is coming forward and landing a few it could well start taking its toll on Dacres and im not sure that hes got enough in the tank to stop Adaleye landing if he is continually catching him with heavy shots. Im gonna side with the banger here , i think Adaleye wears Dacres down and eventually stops him , as ive said very probably from round 5/6 onwards.
David Adaleye To Win .. By Stoppage (Round 5 onwards)
Lawrence Okolie vs Hussein Muhamed
I think its gonna be interesting to se how Okolie (21 Fights - 20 Wins (15 KOs) - 1 Loss) fares as he steps up to the Heavyweight division for the first time. Took the WBC Bridgerweight title last time when stopping Pole Lukasz Rozanski in the first round , before that he lost a majority decision to Chris Billam Smith handing him his first loss. To be honest the Rozanski bout told us nothing as he looked unfit and poor in the ring and im hoping that this one will tell us a little more about where he is at the moment. Muhamed (19 Fights - 18 Wins (14 KOs) - 1 Loss) should put up a better display than Rozanski did although tbh i dont know that much about him , he beat Ali Kiydin last time who had lost his last five fights so that didnt tell us much and before that he lost to the decent Khazak Zhan Kossobutskiy. Okolie has fought the vast majority (apart from his last one) of his career at Cruiserweight and whilst he looked decent enough this is a step into the unknown , the pair are the same height , with Okolie having a slightly longer reach but Muhamed comes in alot heavier. Okolie is pretty much defence first but he does carry KO power particularly with his overhand right , Muhamed is the older of the two who from what ive seen is the more agressive of the pair but is cautious at the same time. He has decent fundamentals and has decent enough power. I think Okolie probably wins this one , could be by stoppage but im not too sure about that , as the only time he has problems seems to be when fighters pressure him and close the distance and thats not Muhamed who tends to look for openings (but follows up when he finds them). I dont really know enough about Muhamed tbh but i from what i do know i think Okolie makes a winning start to his career in the Heavies.
Lawrence Okolie To Win
Mahmoud Charr vs Kubrat Pulev
Gotta admit not particularly interested in this one .. at all .. Charr (38 Fights - 34 Wins (20 KOs) - 4 Losses) defends his WBA 'Regular' Heavyweight Title against Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev (34 Fights - 31 Wins (14 KOs) - 3 Losses) in whats very likely to be a snoozefest especially if it goes the distance . The combined age of these pair are 83 , yep you read that right 83 .. and added to that fact is that Charr hasnt thrown a glove in anger since December 2022 when he stopped Nuri Seferi in the second round .. The title they're fighting for is a bit of a joke really as far as im concerned , all these baubles just detract from boxing if the truth be known . Anyways back to the fight , Charr is a reasonable enough fighter but when hes stepped it up level wise hes come unstuck , Povetkin , Klitschko , Duhaupas and his last loss came to Marias Briedis who stopped him in the fifth round , and whilst i wouldnt say that Pulev is on Briedis , Klitschko or even Povetkins level he has been up against some decent opponents in the past , he beat Chisora back in 2016 and also Hughie Fury along with Michael Sprott , Tony Thompson and Jerry Forrest .. a bit like Charr his losses have come against decent opponents Klitschko , Joshua , Chisora .. the latter back in 2022 .. Neither are world level for me if im being honest but of the two i think Pulev is the slightly better boxer and fought the better opposition. This is basically the last chance saloon for both fighters i think , so both are gonna have to go for the win which could make it interesting. Pulev has been the more active of the pair and he has to win if he wants to stay relevant in any sense of the word , and i see him doing just that , i think hes the better boxer of the pair and i think he stops Charr within 7 rounds. Charr isnt without a chance obviously but i just think that Pulev is the better equipped of the pair to pull off the win.
Kubrat Pulav To Win .. By Stoppage (Round 7 or before)
BY STOPPAGE (But in round one)
