Aussie wrap up: Dunn and George claim Commonwealth titles, Huni new world youth champion, Zappavigna returns on Charlo card

Sub Lead01-Dec-16by John J. Raspanti

By Anthony Cocks

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Australia claimed two Commonwealth titles on the weekend with Zac “Dynamo” Dunn 23-0 (18) outpointing Sheffield, England’s Liam “Cannonball” Cameron 19-5 (7) in Melbourne, Victoria on Friday night and Kris George 12-1 (6) beating the highly-favoured Cameron “The Hammer” Hammond 16-1 (8) by unanimous decision in an all-Aussie showdown in Toowoomba, Queensland on the same night.

Fighting in front of a capacity crowd at the Melbourne Pavilion, undefeated super middleweight Dunn faced the toughest test of his pro career against the rugged Cameron, who hung tough in the later rounds to go the distance with the vaunted puncher.

25 year-old Dunn stalked his opponent from behind the jab and landed hard shots to the body punctuated by rights hands over the top to the head.

“Zac went into the fight with the plan to keep the pressure on Cameron,” said Dunn’s manager Barry Michael. “Work the body and then bomb over the top. His pressure was phenomenal and credit to Cameron for weathering the barrage that was thrown at him. "

When the final bell rang and the dust settled, the judges awarded the fight to Dunn by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.

Former IBF super featherweight world champion Michael, who also held the 135lb Commonwealth title 30 years ago, still holds the belt in high regard.

“It means a lot to win a Commonwealth title as in the past it was traditional to win the Commonwealth title before fighting for a major world title,” Michael said.

In his first fight in thirteen months Cameron, who has never been stopped, showed a lot of grit and determination to soak up the punishment dished out by Dunn.

“He’s like Ivan Drago,” Cameron said after the fight, referring to seemingly unstoppable Russian punching machine portrayed by Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV. “Whatever he hits, he destroys.”

The Yorkshireman lost his last bid for the vacant Commonwealth 168lb title in April 2015 to Luke Blackledge, 18-2-2 (6) at the time.

With the victory Dunn can expect a boost to his world rating of WBC #6, WBO #6, IBF #7 and WBA #13.

Dunn’s American promoter Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing shared Michael’s optimism.

“Zac showed tonight that he is an all around fighter,” said DeGuardia. “He displayed wonderful boxing skills as he out-fought the boxer, Liam Cameron, who was a very good opponent."

Meanwhile on the same night in Toowoomba, underdog Kris George was fighting in front of his hometown crowd at Rumours International.

George, 27, got the better of the highly-favoured Cameron Hammond for most of the fight, decking the 2012 London Olympian in the sixth round and running away a comfortable winner by scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 116-111 to win the vacant 147lb Commonwealth title. Hammond is managed by former unified world junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton.

In the main support bout to Dunn vs Cameron, Australian-based Filipino Czar Amonsot 33-3-3 (21) continued his winning ways with a 7th round TKO of undefeated but untested Thai Yutthapol Sudnongbua 23-1 (16) in defense of his interim WBA Oceania super lightweight title.

Amonsot, who is perhaps best remembered for his blood and guts war with former world lightweight titleholder Michael Katsidis, is ranked #7 at 140 pounds by the WBA.

On the same card Mark “Bam Bam” Flanagan 21-4 (14) won the vacant WBA Oceania cruiserweight title against Argentinean Orlando Antonio Farias 31-16 (19) with a second round KO and Blake Caparello 24-2-1 (8) dropped Bolivian Ricky Torrez 26-8-1 (17) before knocking him out in the first to score back-to-back KOs. A fight between Caparello and Liam Cameron would be a great way to kick-start to 2017.

Boxing Gloves sitting in a ring

Huni Springs The Upset to Win Super Heavyweight Gold at World Youth Amateur Championships

At the World Youth Amateur Championships in St Petersburg, Russia, four time Australian national amateur champion Justis Huni surprised Georgian Giorgi Tchigladze to win the gold in the super heavyweight (+91kg) division at the 7000-seat Sibur Arena.

Huni started fast and quickly found his rhythm, dominating Tchigladze to win by a score of 5-0. It was an historic victory for Huni.

“That’s history for Australia, our first Youth World Title,” said 17-year-old Huni from Logan, Queensland. “It was a hard tournament, but this feels great.”

Huni earned his place in the final by outclassing American Richard Torrez from Tulare, California, in the semis. Other opponents he had to defeat on his way to gold were Kazakhstan’s Mahammad Abdullayev, Uzbekistan’s Alisher Dustov and Armenia’s Gurgen Hovhannisyan.

18-year-old bantamweight Sam Goodman from Albion Park in Sydney, NSW, was the next best performed Aussie, winning a well-deserved bronze medal.

Lenny Zappa Returns on Charlo vs Williams Undercard

The forgotten man of Australian boxing, IBF #3 140-pounder Leonardo Zappavigna 35-2 (25) returns to the ring on 10th December when he squares off against Kazakhstani IBF #4 Sergey Lipinets 10-0 (8) over 12 rounds at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles.

The fight will be supporting the world title double-bill headlined by an all American clash between Jermall Charlo 24-0 (18) in the third defence of his IBF junior middleweight title against Julian Williams 22-0-1 (14) and WBA world featherweight titleholder Jesus Andres Cuellar 28-1 (21) from Argentina making the sixth defence of belt against American Abner Mares 29-2-1 (15).

After back-to-back losses in 2011, Zappavigna has strung together 10 wins with eight coming by the short route. Yet despite his sustained success, the 29-year-old from Leppington in Sydney has been largely ignored by both the mainstream Australian media and specialist boxing websites.

Manager Mike Altamura sees that changing with a win over Lipinets, a former world champion kickboxer who turned to professional boxing in 2014.

“I think he has been making noise abroad but perhaps it’s because his last two fights have been off Australian TV,” Altamura said. “Victory will change that perception though. He’s still the most exciting, fan-friendly Australian fighter.”

For fight fans who haven’t been lucky enough to see Zappavigna in action, think of an aggressive, power-punching fighter with a solid body attack who applies relentless pressure in a style reminiscent of Michael Katsidis. In shorthand, he fights in the “Mexican-style” and that is exactly what American fight fans can expect to see on 10th December.

“A gritty, talented kid that is motivated to shine and coming with the mindset to steal the show,” says Altamura of Zappavigna in the match-up.

With a win Zappavigna will secure a shot at the reigning IBF junior welterweight champion, hard-hitting Russian Eduard Troyanovsky 25-0 (22).

“This is a final IBF title eliminator,” said Altamura. “With victory, he’ll be in line to face Troyanovsky. We have immense respect for Lipinets thought, so there’s certainly no looking past him.”

Lightweight Grudge Match Between Kambosos and Ogilvie This Weekend

It has been a long time coming, but finally the grudge match between lightweights George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr 10-0 (6) from Sydney, New South Wales and “Brilliant” Brandon Ogilvie 17-1-1 (9) from Perth, Western Australia will take place on Friday night at Sydney’s Luna Park on a card promoted by Whack Promotions.

The bad blood between the two camp has frequently reached boiling point in the lead up to the fight, with the Ogilvie camp throwing shade at Team Kambosos in a recent media release.

“I have heard his talk, he says he’s going to take my head off,” said Ogilvie. “He says he’s going to bash my team but I’m yet to see him back anything up.

“I’ve seen all the talk before when I fought Darragh Foley, but at least Foley was knocking out good fighters. George hasn’t fought anybody.”

Ogilvie’s father and trainer Brad threw further fuel on the fire.

“While George is in America shadow boxing in front of a mirror, Brandon has been training the house down,” he said. “Come fight night, George is going to be hit so many times, he’ll think he’s surrounded.”

The 22-year-old Ogilvie will be defending the WBA Oceania 135 pound title he won against Thai Amphon Suriyo 18-1 (14) in Bunbury, Western Australia in October. The winner will be regarded as the number one lightweight in Australia but Brendan Bourke, who manages Ogilvie, has bigger plans if his charge wins.

“I could’ve signed Brandon to a big American promoter after the Foley win,” explained Bourke. “I have knocked back a good offer abroad because Brandon wanted this fight with George more than anything. It’s personal.”

In the main support bout light heavyweight Damien “Super” Hooper 11-1 (8) will be gunning for his third victory in a row against veteran Nader “Lionheart” Hamdan 44-12-1 (19) after his shock 0:21 second KO to Rob Powdrill in 2014.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Email: AnthonyC1974@gmail.com