Thursday 29 November 2018

David Defiagbon.. 1970-2018.. RIP


As a gangling 20 year old light middleweight, David Dejiro Defiagbon took his first step into the competitive headlights of championship boxing when representing his native Nigeria, he grabbed a gold at the 1990 commonwealth games in New Zealand. Two years later would appear in at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, unfortunately being eliminated in the early stages.. David was raised in relative poverty in the Delta state city of Sapele, and sought boxing as his escape to a better life.. Canadian National coach Taylor Gordon Met Defiagbon on a trip to Lagos, the young Nigerian begged that Gordon help him leave his oppressed country and move to Canada with the influential trainer. David threw himself onto his knees and grabbed Gordon’s feet with tears running down his face, begging for the life saving opportunity.. Gordon vowed to help Defiagbon, and later sent the plane fare to allow the fighter to begin his new life as a Canadian.. As David was about to board the flight, military police intervened and moved Defiagbon to a military jail, beating and torturing him whilst holding the young fighter for weeks.. Eventually David was released and took the long trip to Halifax Nova Scotia to begin his new life.. With very few belongings and no money to his name, David worked tirelessly to earn himself a place on the national team, being granted National status on the day he described as the happiest of his life.. David would appear in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics as a solid fully developed heavyweight, grabbing a silver medal, beating Nate Jones and Christophe Mendy on the way to meeting Cuba’s FĂ©lix Savon in the final.. Later that year David would take another leap of faith, moving to Las Vegas to be part of Thell Torrence’s stable of promising professionals including fellow team mates, Montell Griffin, Duncan Dokiwari and Christophe Mendy, the man he’d beaten in the Olympics.. Turning pro as a Cruiserweight, David soon grew into a solid heavyweight, racking up a string of victories whilst enjoying life in his new adopted home town.. By 2000 Defiagbon was 11-0 and now promoted by Cedric Kushner, appearing on regular Heavyweight Explosion events, getting national tv exposure, beating respected names like Lou Monaco, Ramon Hayes, Harold Sconiers and Augustin Corpus. In 2004 David would pick up a WBA Fedecentro title by beating Ron Guerrero by knockout on a Star boxing show in Bermuda, taking his record to 21-0 with 12 knockouts.. This victory earned Defiagbon his first step up fight against tough New York based Russian Oleg Maskaev.. Defiagbon would suffer a 6th round knockdown in a tough fight losing for the first time by a split decision at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.. A year later aged 35 David would travel to Madenberg Germany to take on undefeated former world Cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez, the return to the ring following his first loss against such a formidable opponent wasn’t a wise one, Defiagbon suffered his first stoppage defeat in what would be his final ring appearance..
David was a fabulous talent who unfortunately carried too much emotional baggage to adapt to such a high profile successful life, he was kind and generous and lit up a room with his smile.. As an ex fighter David looked to have the idyllic life, Married to a beautiful wife Mandy, with a baby daughter to dote on, working shifts as security in designer stores in luxurious las Vegas resorts, David was respected and loved by all around him, he was a success story.. Unfortunately David’s marriage broke down and work became sporadic, David found himself lost in an adopted city without the purpose that brought him there.. I met David for the first time in 5 years last May, he was wandering around in the 6am sun in south Las Vegas, he looked tired and slightly unkempt. His teeth looked stained and his skin was tough, appearing as though he had been neglecting his health.. I gave David some money and we spoke for a while whilst waiting for the bus along Tropicana.. He told me he was returning to the hospital to pick up a jacket he’d left there the day before, after being admitted following a fall, he’d drank too much, in his own words.. This was an Olympic Silver medalist, I’d asked about his wife and daughter, David shook his head and explained in no uncertain terms why things failed, he blamed himself completely, ‘My dumb ass messed that up..’ I cheered him up with stories about better days, he smiled but appeared intermittently to stare out into space.. I hugged David before he exited the bus, heading to a gas station on Maryland Parkway, I watched him walk away, with a M&Ms plastic bag, old worn out Track pants and flip flops.. I regretted not spending more time with my friend.. On Tuesday I got the dreadful news that David had passed away, aged just 48.. He’d admitted himself to hospital with chest pains and later passed due to heart complications.. This story should have been much different, but unfortunately David crammed a lifetimes worth of struggle and adversity into those 48 years, he’d found the comfort of a successful life but sadly died with very little material worth to show for his achievements.. I won’t ever forget David Defiagbon, I just wish I could have done more..

Sunday 18 November 2018

Jarrell Miller gets stoppage over Dinu in Kansas.


In an interesting bout between undefeated heavyweights, highly ranked Jarrell Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) took on the relatively unknown Romanian, Bogdan Dinu (18-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. 78 pounds of added bulk only appeared to hinder the New Yorkers performance through the first three rounds as the unheralded Dinu outboxed his much larger opponent with intelligent clusters of punches in short bursts.. Unfortunately the visitor was unable to maintain his success into the fourth as Miller finally found the mark, dropping Dinu twice with single shots, getting the stoppage at 2:45 of the round.. Although unsuccessful regarding the victory, Dinu did expose Millers inability to box at a decent pace against a mobile opponent.. Jarrell continues to close in on a title shot of sorts, but really needs quality work before locking horns with one of the current champions.

WBA and IBF female middleweight world champion Claressa Shields (7-0, 2 KOs) added the vacant WBC title to her collection with a dominant ten round unanimous decision over Hannah Rankin (5-3, 1 KO). Scores were 100-90 unanimously.

2016 Olympian Nico Hernandez (6-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Josue Morales (8-8-3, 0 KOs) in an entertaining eight rounder at Flyweight. Scores were 80-72, 80-72, 79-73.

Former world champion Brandon Rios (35-4-1, 26 KOs) scored a ninth round TKO over Ramon Alvarez (27-7-3, 16 KOs) in a light middleweight ten rounder. The lively action was finally stopped at :38 of the round, with Alvarez taking far too many headshots from the classy Rios.

The colourful Gabriel Rosado (24-11-1, 14 KOs) and Luis Arias (18-1-1, 9 KOs) fought to an eventful twelve round draw at middleweight, Scores were 116-112 Rosado, 116-112 Arias, 114-114.

Las Vegas Jeremy Nichols (9-1—1, 3 KOs) demolished Jeremiah Page (3-6, 2 KOs) in the opener of a middleweight 8 rounder.. Page down four times. Time 2:34.

Evenings Boxing Promoted by Matchroom Boxing, Greg Cohen in association with Salita promotions..   Broadcast by DAZN.

Monday 12 November 2018

Usyk v Bellew undercard action.


On Saturdays Manchester undercard, a WBA lightweight eliminator saw number 4 ranked Anthony Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs) outpoint number 2 ranked Daud Yordan (38-4, 26 KOs) in a convincing yet laborious twelve rounder in the chief support.. Scores were 116-112 unanimously.

Former three-division world champion Ricky Burns (43-7-1, 16 KOs) rolled back the years to knock out tough Scott Cardle (23–3-1, 7 KOs) in the third round of a lightweight matchup.. A single right hand dropped Cardle heavily at 2:06, the Lytham man beat the count but was in poor shape and was saved from himself.

Heavyweight David Allen (16-4-2, 13 KOs) bit off more than he could chew with rugged Ariel Esteban Bracamonte (8-2, 5 KOs) The soft bodied Argentinian started fast and had Allen in all sorts of trouble for the first 5 rounds.. Allen in poor condition struggled to dig into his reserves to subdue the tough South American, until a savage right hand in round 6 opened a cut on the bridge of Bracamontes nose.. The sight of blood appeared to spur the teak tough Doncaster heavyweight to life, rallying to hurt the visitor repeatedly before the corner pulled Bracamonte out at the conclusion of round 7.. Allen was disgusted with his performance and lack of condition after the bout, saying that if he wasn’t such a hard bastard, he’d have easily lost the bout, to whom he described as one of the toughest men he’s ever faced..

Usyk retains his unified titles with 8th round knockout of brave Bellew.


Colourful Unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) boxed patiently for 7 tense rounds before knocking out former WBC champion Tony Bellew (30-3-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The bout unfolded as a chess match for the first six sessions with neither man committing. Usyk moved through the gears in the seventh, before rolling the dice in round 8, knocking out Bellew with a clinical left hook over the jab.. Time was 2:00. Bellew was surprisingly ahead on two of the three scorecards at the conclusion of round 7.

The magnanimous Bellew expressed his appreciation of Usyk, calling him the most complete and talented fighter that he’d ever shared the ring with before emotionally announcing his retirement from the sport.. Oleksandr gave very little away in the post fight presser, but has previously expressed his interest in moving to heavyweight in the near future..