Robert Easter, JR – Denis Shafikov By the Numbers & More…
By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
On June the 30th, in Toledo, Denis Shafikov, 38-2-1, 20 KO’s, shall enter the lion’s den and try and take the IBF lightweight title from Robert Easter, JR., 19-0, 14 KO’s. Whilst the UK boxing scene has been buoyant in recent years it has been at lightweight that I think we have been punching – literally – above our weight. In the recent past, two names have been writ large for that – Ricky Burns who has moved up and Anthony Crolla, 31-6-3, 13 KO’s, who was heartbroken to lose, not once but twice, to a better fighter in Jorge Linares.
Linares is probably the king of the division right now and holding both the WBA – strangely the ONLY WBA crown – and the Ring magazine title, could pick his next opponent from anywhere he wishes.
Linares was rumored at one point to be making a defense against Mikey Garcia and that is a fight that a lot of boxing aficionados would love to have seen but Garcia has now signed to face Adrien “The Problem” Broner.
In the UK, we have had a tough time of it with champions and titlists. In 2016 the Brits could do very little wrong. 2017 has seen most of our world title contenders fall a little short and whilst we can hold onto George Groves winning his belt at the 4th time of asking and Anthony Joshua looking like the best thing in heavyweight boxing for years, lightweight was a place we felt we held some solid ground but now no more. You can bet on live sports matches at any online casino.
With the IBF belt up for grabs on the 30th, we can dream I suppose of a return to glory as we have the holder of the WBO belt in the Brits stable alongside an Olympic Gold medalist and that Million Dollar mentioned above. They represent the best of contenders that will be waiting in the wings hoping that they can make a play to get a us back in the game and at its forefront.
The most obvious triumph is WBO champion, Terry Flanagan, 33-0, 13 KO’s. Flanagan has defended his WBO title on 4 occasions including against openly gay titlist, Orlando Cruz. There is a feeling, certainly amongst Flanagan’s supports that he does not get the recognition which he deserves. There is a degree of truth in that for the former Prizefighter winner from 2012 has struggled to be as recognised as any of our world level boxers.
Having begun his career at super featherweight, Flanagan moved up to 135lbs to compete in the Prizefighter tournament that was launched by Eddie Hearn. Prizefighter was a knockout tournament that put fighters in 3 round fights from quarter final through to final. Flanagan won by beating Patrick Walsh, Derry Mathews and finally Gary Sykes in a massively competitive contest with his final being by way of a split decision win.
Flanagan then set about becoming a world level contender with wins against Nate Campbell (Campbell retired on his stool with an injured hand after the 4th round), winning the British title against Martin Gethin (Gethin retired after the 8th with an injured ear) and then the European title after Stephen Ormond who was disqualified in the Valentine’s Day fight in 2015 in round 10 for persistent use of the head.
July 2015 saw the WBO belt, recently vacated by Terence Crawford, become available and, you could not make this up, Jose Zepeda retired on his stool after the 2nd round following dislocating his shoulder in a clash of arms!
There have been 5 defenses, none of which have headlined nor have they captured the imagination of the British public; Flanagan could do with a marquee fight. In the meantime, the WBO are awaiting the negotiations between Flanagan’s promoter Frank Warren and the promoter of his mandatory challenger, Felix Verdejo, Bob Arum who have been working on a mandatory defense that may come off in September 2017.
So, what about the former champion?
There are massive parallels between Crolla and Flanagan. Crolla too fought at super featherweight, had an epic fight with Gary Sykes, though whilst Flanagan won a split decision, Crolla lost by unanimous decision. Crolla also won the British title, though managed to knock out his opponent – John Watson.
Crolla also fought Derry Mathews twice but unlike Flanagan who won twice, in the semi-final of Prizefighter and in one of his five world title defences, Crolla was stopped in the 6th round by Mathews and then came a draw in 2012.
Crolla also entered Prizefighter but lost in the semi-finals to … Gary Sykes!
Crolla though has had his fair share of tragedy and trouble. His domestic fight against Kieran Farrell, in 2012, ended with young Farrell suffering a brain injury and having to retire from the sport. In 2015 Crolla was due to fight for a world title but it had to be postponed when Crolla ended up in hospital with a broken ankle and fractured skull. He had stopped two burglars from stealing from a next door neighbor’s house but had then been attacked with one attacker wielding concrete! Crolla was then replaced in the world title fight by Derry Mathews!
Later in 2015, having recovered, like Flanagan, Crolla was to win a world title. Unlike Flanagan though, Crolla took two attempts as he drew the first with Darleys Perez but stopped him in the 5th in the rematch to win the WBA belt. Crolla held that belt until September 2016 when Jorge Linares took it from him and then retained it in a more convincing rematch. Linares was confirmed as the WBA, WBC Diamond and Ring Magazine champion.
Right now, Crolla does not have a scheduled return to the ring and could be seen as a fairly perfunctory opponent for whichever fighter wins on the 30th.
Our final contender is mandatory for Jorge Linares – a fight he relishes – the effervescent Luke Campbell, 17-1, 14 KO’s. A 2012 Olympic Gold medalist his rise has been totally different to that of either Flanagan or Crolla.
Campbell is a decorated amateur with gold at the 2008 Europeans as well as that Olympic medal and a silver from the 2011 World Championships. Turning professional in 2013, Campbell took some time out the sport when he discovered his father had cancer but on his return continued with a relentless pace that could only be derailed by one thing – a defeat. Yvan Mendy took both his WBC international title and his mandatory status within the WBC in a split decision win that shocked us and set our Golden boy back.
Campbell regrouped and returned as he fought Gary Sykes for the Commonwealth title with the towel came in round 2. Then came the WBC silver title, won against Argenis Mendez thanks to a wide points win, the 4th round stoppage of Derry Mathews – something neither Flanagan nor Crolla achieved, he beat Darleys Perez with a 9th round stoppage on the first asking when Crolla had to take him on twice.
Campbell wants Linares and Linares was ringside to see what might be coming his way when Perez was stopped by Campbell, and with Campbell sitting as mandatory for both WBA and WBC this might be a way of ensuring a fight happens without the alphabet soup we normally associate with world titles.
Only Campbell is mentioned in the IBF rankings so maybe it is fanciful to even suggest that either Flanagan or Crolla would figure in either Easter, JR. or Shafikov’s sights after their fight. Crolla is in the WBC and WBA rankings at 9 and 4 respectively and Flanagan also holds a belt so who knows? One thing is for sure. In the UK we need to get some traction and some guys in the ring to take some of the belts back we keep losing and of the 3, all have chances. Are they at the same level as Easter Jr or Linares or Garcia?
There is only one way to find out…
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